[imText1]Getting the international community to hold China to account for its role in North Korean human rights abuses can go some way towards hastening change in North Korea, says a professor from a top South Korean university.

In a policy seminar held this morning by a lawmaker with the Liberty Forward Party, “North Korean Political Prison Camps in which I Suffered,” Yonsei University’s Professor Hong Sung Pil insisted, “Along with the international community, we should put pressure on China in the direction of holding them responsible for North Korean human rights abuses.”

“We should bring to the attention of the international community the fact that, due to China, the problems of North Korea’s political prison camps and other human rights abuses have persisted. We should put China on a charge of aiding these human rights issues.”

He emphasized, “We should constantly point out that China is an accomplice in the North’s human rights problems; then it will be possible to solve these problems.”

Professor Hong added, “We should also consider suggestions on dealing with this issue in the Six-Party Talks framework.”

“In terms of the political prison camps, the important thing is to figure out the correct reality, mitigate brutal and inhumane human rights abuses and strive to stop them,” he said.

He noted, “Talking about North Korea’s instability and the possibility of inter-Korean unification, we have to draw up guidelines on dealing with human rights abuses in law.”

Another debater, renowned defector and the President of the North Korea Strategy Center Kang Cheol Hwan pointed out, “One element exacerbating the North’s human rights situation is South Korea. For the last ten years, the Kim Dae Jung and Roh Moo Hyun administrations provided the Kim Jong Il regime with great help to survive while infringing upon the human rights of the North Korean people.”

Kang said, “Despite international pressure on North Korea, they have expanded the camps rather than closed them.”

He further warned, “The number of inmates in the camps has been increasing and the degree of the abuses has become more serious.”