The Buddhist Human Rights Committee of South Korea has strongly criticized the Lee Myung Bak’s government for pressuring North Korea to improve its human rights situation at a recent meeting of the UN Human Rights Council.
The committee said in a statement, “That the S. Korean government has raised human rights issues of North Korea shows that the government, at the instigation of the U.S., is pursuing a policy of division which fosters mistrust and confrontation between the people of South and North Korea.”
Denouncing the U.S. as capitalist Yankees who detest and despise human beings, the committee said in the statement, “The U.S. is trying to impose a U.S.-style democracy and neo-liberalism on many countries regardless of their opinion.” The committee added, “Human rights should not be used as a tool to challenge a regime by the standards of capitalism. If so, that would throw cold water on the reconciliation process and violate the spirit of unity between South and North Korea.”
What the Committee has said is simply unacceptable. Those Buddhist priests of the Committee are ignorant, and do not deserve to use the name “the Buddhist Human Rights Committee.” It is difficult to believe how they manage to maintain their positions as Buddhist priests with that kind of attitude.
Human rights are basic rights that transcend all social systems and cut across the boundaries of race, gender, religion, ethnicity, class and ideology. Anyone who has received basic education should be able to appreciate the universality of human rights. Unfortunately, the Committee argues that addressing North Korean human rights problems would ruin the reconciliation mood between South and North Korea. It is difficult to understand why the Committee brings up the issue of reconciliation and the unity of Korea when human rights issues, which are universal in nature, are being addressed. Human rights are entitled to all people including both South and North Korean people.
The Committee’s saying “Human rights should not be used as a tool to challenge a regime by the standards of capitalism” is a nonsense. As mentioned, human rights transcend the boundaries of social systems, and therefore it is absurd that the Committee mentions such and such about “the standards of capitalism.”
It is doubtful whether those priests at the Buddhist Human Rights Committee have ever had a chance to read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Although time has changed many things, the so-called Buddhist Human Rights Committee still remains ignorant of the universal values of human rights. As long as the Committee has a double standard when it comes to South Korean vs. North Korean human rights problems, the Committee should not be considered as an agency that promotes human rights because it does not know ABC of human rights.
Christians has a mission to spread the Good News to the end of the earth. Similarly, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva is trying to liberate all sentient beings even if he has to suffer retribution in the hell realm.
The Committee should know that Jesus and Sakyamuni (referring to the historical Buddha) sought to achieve during their lifetime on earth is to treat everyone as a human being.
