North Korean Human Rights are International Problem
The UN General Assembly approved a motion concerning human rights in North Korea. Although the UN Human Rights Commission has adopted the motion three years in a row, the problem was treated at the UN General Assembly for the first time. The resolution of the General Assembly has no legally binding power, but it is very meaningful that the highest authoritative international organization will supervise and direct North Korea's human rights problem all the time and all the way.
The resolution says that North Korea has infringed on human rights systematically and totally through such acts as torture, public execution, illegal imprisonment, and forced labor. Notably, in the case of refugees who defected from North Korea, when they were repatriated to North Korea they were treated inhumanely and severely. International societies should help each other to urge North Korea to stop these atrocities. In a word, the international community will discuss the problem of human rights in North Korea from now on. They will have to address two pending problems, North Korea's nuclear arms and human rights, as international political problems.
The South Korean government abstained from voting on the resolution at the UN General Assembly. They have turned their back on the resolution of North Korea's human rights problems four times because they want to talk about it within the context of South Korea's policies towards North Korea. These include South and North Korean reconciliation and cooperation, a peaceful solution of North Korea's nuclear problem, and establishing a foundation of trust between two Koreas.
The government's position is understandable when considering the dualism of North Korea's human rights problem. Especially when they are faced with North Korea's nuclear problem, they have to go their own way to solve it. However, they are not free from criticism. Some countries in the world try to solve the situation of North Korea's human rights, but South Korea deserted her responsibility and duty as a member of the UN as she closed her eyes to it.
North Korea strongly revolted at the UN resolution, saying it was "interference in the domestic affairs of North Korea and a plot to overthrow the North Korean government." North Korea shouldn't say such emotional things. They need to look at reality and take appropriate measures. North Korea must open further to the international community and show an attitude to solve the problems of human rights as well as of nuclear arms. If they neglect the resolution of the UN General Assembly, they will be further isolated from the international community.
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 / 입력시간: 2005. 11.19. 15:02
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