Hwang Woo Yea, the Grand National Party floor leader in the National Assembly, used a radio address this morning to throw light on the human rights situation in North Korea and emphasize once again that the North Korean Human Rights Law (NKHRL) must be passed in June’s extra session of the National Assembly.
“The NKHRA must be unanimously passed this time to show our commitment to the North Korean people’s human rights,” Hwang asserted, adding, “If we were to hesitate any longer, there would be popular resistance and international criticism.”
He also revealed, “We have agreed with Democratic Party floor leader Kim Jin Pyo to deal with the NKHRL in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee during June’s special session of the National Assembly.”
“The NKHRL will promote the reunification of Korea,” Hwang went on to claim, asserting that the law is capable of “creating an environment in which North Korean people can live like human beings,” something which he noted would be “the best form of aid.”
“The legislation’s purpose is to publicly announce the Republic of Korea government’s responsibility for and obligation to the improvement of North Korean human rights, and to create the practical conditions for this,” he added.
In usually blunt criticism of China’s role in human rights violations, Hwang also called on Beijing to cease its policy of repatriations, saying, “China must recognize North Korean defectors as citizens of the ROK. They should not forcibly repatriate them, nor turn a blind eye to grave human rights violations against them.”
Shedding light on the meaning of the NKHRL, Hwang explained that the law “includes writing North Korean human rights reports, long-term planning for North Korean human rights and creating a North Korean human rights ambassador to cooperate with international society, as well as establishing a North Korean human rights foundation to provide support for North Korean human rights and defector-related civic organizations.”
Quoting a former inmate of a North Korean prison camp, he then concluded, “We must not forget that a brutal prison camp worse than Auschwitz exists in North Korea. I am still curious as to how I was able to survive in Yoduk Prison Camp.”
