The Dilemma of Discussing North Korean Human Rights in South Korea

[정일영]

[The Korean Odyssey]

*In inter-Korean relations, the human rights issue is becoming a political conflict beyond human rights ⓒiStock

Il Young Jeong

Research Professor_Institute of Social Sciences_Sogang University

When dealing with North Korean human rights issues, we often see the usual dynamic between conservatives and liberals inverted. Conservatives become not-so-friendly fighters for human rights, while progressives quietly turn a blind eye. How did this come to pass?

#Episode 1

There was a North Korean defector I met who called himself a "revolutionary." He said that after witnessing the transformation in Eastern Europe, he began to feel a sense of resistance towards the North Korean regime. Ultimately, his thoughts and actions caused him problems and he ended up fleeing the North. After settling down in Korean society, he faces a confusing situation. South Korean progressives, who he expected to be sympathetic to his story, turned a blind eye to him while conservatives shook his hand. When he asked me why South Korean progressives are silent on the issue of North Korea's human rights, I found that I had no answer for him.

#Episode 2

Professor Son Ho-cheol of Sogang University, now retired, is well known as a progressive scholar in Korea. In my graduate school days, I personally attended one of his lectures. He lamented that South Korean progressives' silence on North Korean human rights issues would, like a karmic boomerang, ultimately come back around to haunt them. In truth, I don't even remember what the topic of that lecture was, but this statement of his has remained with me long after.

Is there a human rights problem in North Korea?

In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declared in Article 1 that "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights," and that they are naturally "endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood". Perhaps no state or society is as completely free as prescribed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but we must follow those ideals and strive to protect human rights.

North Korea has its own concept of 'North Korean-style human rights' and argues that 'individuals, as members of the collective, are entitled to social human rights'. Just as views on human rights differ between the West and the East, cultural differences likewise exist between countries. Nevertheless, the human rights situation in North Korea is extremely serious even from a broad perspective of humanity accounting for cultural relativity. The horrific human rights situation in North Korea reported by North Korean defectors during the Arduous March (a major famine in the 90s) was truly terrible beyond words.

I am not offering a comprehensive list of North Korea’s human rights issues in this article. Leaving behind political labels like ‘conservatives’ and ‘progressives,’ I believe that there is some consensus among Koreans on this issue. So, what is the problem?

The North Korean human rights issue has disappeared and only politics remains

The growth in inter-Korean cooperation since the liberal Kim Dae Jung government has led the South Korean government to fall silent on North Korean human rights issues. Inter-Korean cooperation and North Korean human rights are seen as issues that could not be contained in the same ‘basket,’ and raising the issues of human rights issues inevitably meant a break in dialogue between the two Koreas. Instead, the Kim Dae Jung and Roh Moo Hyun governments approached human rights issues by attempting to address starvation in North Korea through humanitarian aid in the form of food rations and fertilizer. It is true that human rights groups in South Korea have been interested in and often discussed North Korean human rights issues, but it is also true that these discussions have not evolved into real action.

Then the conservative government has brought out the issue of human rights in North Korea as an important issue in inter-Korean relations. Conservatives have refused to acknowledge the North Korean regime and been passive in inter-Korean dialogue. As such, the North Korean human rights issue has been construed as being anti-North Korean. This is why the North Korean human rights issue has become an issue of conservatism. North Korean human rights groups have taken actions such as disseminating leaflets, but it is unclear how much of a role these activities have played in resolving human rights issues in the North. Some also raise criticism that these actions by North Korean human rights groups have only caused the North Korean regime to become stricter and more repressive.

As a result, I don't think any of the aforementioned perspectives have focused on the North Korean human rights issue itself. Both sides speak of “North Korean human rights,” but the true human rights element seems to have disappeared. Under a system with a divided Korean Peninsula, perhaps there are limitations on the extent that we can approach the human rights issue by itself. In that case, what could we learn from looking at this problem from a Korean Peninsula perspective?

Let's look at North Korean human rights from the perspective of “human rights on the Korean Peninsula”

I propose that we look at this issue as “human rights on the Korean peninsula” and emphasize the value of human rights and unity in attempting to solve human rights issues. The ‘Korean Peninsula perspective’ advocates not dividing the human rights issue into North and South but to come together to protect the human rights of the Korean peninsula community, regardless of political interests.

First of all, South Korean human rights organizations need to break their silence and actively speak out and act on North Korean human rights issues. I also suggest that North Korean human rights groups work together with groups working on human rights issues in South Korea. Unfortunately, I have yet to hear that North Korean human rights groups have joined in to address a South Korean human rights issue.

Human rights issues do not exist independently of each other or divided between North and South. Let's start discussions to urge our civil society to deal with human rights issues in both the North and South from a holistic ‘Korean Peninsula perspective’ and to work together in solidarity with the international community.

*IL-Young Jeong is a research professor at Sogang University in Seoul. His key research interests include North Korea's social control system, inter-Korean relations, and peace on the Korean Peninsula.