[Editorial] NK Human Rights Conference Lacked Balance

Freedom House and about 40 Korean and foreign conservative groups held an international conference on North Korean human rights in Seoul. It was the second such event, following one in Washington D.C. last July, and it was significant for showing you exactly the approach conservative groups take towards the issue.

In conclusion, that approach is a disappointment, because the discussion was unable to get far beyond talk of a collapse of the North Korean regime. A typical example would be Defense Forum Foundation president Suzanne Scholte's statement that the cost (through aid) of maintaining the North Korean government is more than the cost that would be incurred if it collapsed. U.S. ambassador to Korea Alexander Vershbow again defined the North as a "criminal regime." Many discussants were bent on explaining reasons why North Korea must collapse. It is what you would expect at an event sponsored with funds from the U.S. Congress, which passed the "North Korean Human Rights Act." You felt you were watching a "crush communism rally" back during the Cold War.

If the concern really is the poor state of human rights for North Korea's population, then we should stop and consider whether the strategy of trying to achieve rapid change in the government there over a short period of time. The war in Iraq that has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians shows you what happens when such attempts end up being combined with the unilateralism of American hard-liners. Resolving the North Korean nuclear issue and creating a peace regime for the peninsula and Northeast Asia are just as important as human rights. The achievements of the Participatory Government's policy of peace and prosperity as it encourages gradual change in the North Korean system through intra-Korean reconciliation and cooperation need to be acknowledged.

The cause of North Korean human rights can be advanced most effectively when discussed between North and South Korea. All civic groups, whether conservative or progressive, need to create an atmosphere which makes that possible. That, in turn, can only happen when conservative groups make a departure from the U.S. neocon-style calls for the North to collapse. The conference was not a balanced one precisely because they have been unable to do that.

The Hankyoreh, 10 December 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]