The tug-of-war between the ruling Grand National Party and the opposition Democratic Party over the pending North Korean Human Rights Law (NKHRL) shows no signs of abating or reaching a conclusion.

The law is currently on hold in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly; while the Grand National Party hopes to pass it within the regular session of the National Assembly, the Democratic Party claims not to have an interest in it and is using a policy of non-cooperation to block it from going forward to the National Assembly.

Joo Sung Young, a GNP member of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, urged discussion of the NKHRL in a Committee meeting on the 16th, asserting, “We have to pass the NKHR Law quickly.”

However, Democratic Party members refused to respond to this or any other statement on the issue.

Giving an interview today, Joo told The Daily NK, “Dealing with the North Korean Human Rights Law is the least we can do if we have an interest in North Korean human rights.”

He added, “Right now, the Democratic Party refuses to agree to the law while only speaking of North Korea’s ‘special situation’. If the Democratic Party does not agree with the succession of the North Korean regime and wishes to consider the human rights of the North Korean people, this discussion should be conducted as soon as possible.”

However, Lee Choon Suak, a Democratic member, retorted, “I believe that the North Korean Human Rights Law is unable to reform the human rights situation.”

Therefore, he added that he, on behalf of the Democratic Party, “doesn’t have any interest in the North Korean Human Rights Law,” and went on, “When the issue of the North Korean Human Rights Law comes up as an agenda item in meetings of the Committee, I never say a word. Since I believe the law is ineffective, I don’t have any interest in it at all.”

He asserted, “The North Korean Human Rights Law is not effective not only because it aims at domestic North Korean affairs, but also because it can bring about a freeze in inter-Korean relations,” before adding, “we need to give this more time.”

Although the Democratic Party has asserted that it will block the passage of the NKHRL in the National Assembly, they would prefer to try and avoid such a public rejection by keeping it out of the National Assembly through a policy of non-cooperation in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

This state of affairs is not pleasing for GNP members with an interest in the issue. Lee Eun Jae, one such member with a key role on another North Korea-related committee, reminded a GNP executive meeting this morning, “Even though the U.S. and Japan have their own North Korea human rights laws, ours is still on hold in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. I want to ask you to put in a further effort to pass it.”