NSW 중상급 영어 토론 스터디 토픽 (Thur 12.1)

<A name="[문서의 처음]"></A> UN envoy vows to find family detained by NK The U.N. special envoy on North Korean human rights vowed Friday to do all he could to rescue a 69-year-old South Korean woman and her two daughters stranded in the Stalinist state whose situation has become “emblematic” of the problem of hundreds of detainees there. The case of Shin Sook-ja and her two daughters, believed to have been detained since 1985, has gripped the nation on the back of a grassroots campaign led by Oh Kil-nam, the husband who escaped after moving the family to the North. Special U.N. rapporteur Marzuki Darusman promised to collect as much information as possible and “engage all the U.N. human rights mechanisms to address this matter,” during a press conference in Seoul that wrapped up a six-day fact-finding mission here. Darusman, who met with Oh Monday, said the most immediate concern was confirm‎ing the status of the three women. He cited the U.N. working group on disappearances as one avenue to address the issue. Pyongyang is believed to have abducted 3,835 South Korean citizens, mostly fishermen, since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War with 500 thought to remain there. Oh, a retired economist, voluntarily took his family to the North but later fled when dispatched to Germany to lure more South Koreans. “Mr. Oh Kil-nam’s case is symbolic of the number of abduction cases that have not been resolved,” the special envoy said. “We hope that this matter...could then re-profile the abduction cases of Korean nationals and lead to a comprehensive resolution.” The South Korean government has said it would petition the United Nations to help repatriate the family and possibly establish a task force to handle abductions by Pyongyang. The trip was Darusman’s second to the South since taking the position last year. Despite frequent requests, Pyongyang has not allowed him to visit. Among a spate of recommendations on improving human rights conditions in the impoverished state, he urged Seoul to mobilize food there regardless of political tensions. The United Nations believes some 6 million North Koreans are in dire need of aid. Seoul halted North Korea-bound aid a year ago after Pyongyang’s two deadly provocations on the South that killed a total of 50 people. Though tensions remain taut, the Lee Myung-bak administration has resumed medical aid under a “flexible” approach meant to warm ties. Darusman, who is from Indonesia, urged the two Koreas to open a government-level channel to discuss the resumption of reunions of families separated by the fratricidal conflict. The reunions, which have been held on-and-off since a landmark summit in 2000, have failed to take place for over a year. Of the some 128,000 separated families who applied for the emotional temporary meetings, 50,000 had died as of October this year, Darusman said. “Any meaningful progress on this issue would seem to require an early resumption of inter-Korean dialogue,” he said. The two sides remain technically at war since the Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. North Korea is considered one of the world’s worst human rights violators, operating a sprawling political prisoner system and blocking the flow of outside information to maintain an iron-fisted rule over its people. 1. What do you think is the human right? and What do you think is the human duty? 2. Do you have a family or related people who are separated in North Korea? Can you tell us the story of that? 3. What do you think of North Korea? Do you think the regime of the country could be changed? 4. Do you think Korea should be united as one? if so or not, why do you think so? Robots to patrol jails at night Robot guards will patrol jail corridors as early as next year, lifting the burden off human prison guards. The Ministry of Knowledge and Economy will invest 1 billion won in the project to develop the robot guards with the Asian Forum for Corrections (AFC), a private institute, undertaking and overseeing the development of four-wheeled security robots. AFC Chairman Lee Baik-chul, also a professor at the Department of Corrections at Kyonggi University, said the robots will perform simple tasks such as patrolling during night hours and this will significantly help human prison guards focus on other more complex tasks. “It’s at night when problems can occur. The robots will watch for any signs of suicide attempts or physical attacks on prisoners instead of the human guards. This will allow the human guards to work on more difficult problems such as educational work and counseling,” said Lee. The robot guard project began as Lee suggested a correctional function be applied to robots for a research project. “I thought, if robots could patrol jails, it would tremendously help ensure safety in prisons,” he said. The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute and SMEC, a robot manufacturing company in North Gyeongsang Province, are also taking part in the project. They will initially develop three robots. The robots will be able to observe their surroundings through visual software installed in their “face.” The software is an improved version of surveillance cameras. “When the robot sees something unusual, it will report to the central control facility which will then take action,” Lee said. “These robots can also be a communicating device between the prisoners and the guards. The robots have a speaker and microphone installed on their bodies so that when a prisoner speaks, the guard at the central tower can respond and vice versa.” Lee said the robot will be able to speak a few sentences. It will be about 150 centimeters tall and weigh between 70 to 80 kilograms. The production of the techno-guards will be completed by next March and three sample robots will be sent to a prison in Pohang for a one-month trial. “We developed the robot after visiting a few prisons in person and taking a look at the facilities. Since these robots can’t be operated in the older facilities, we developed it to suit some of the newer ones,” said Lee. When the trial period is over, the Ministry of Justice will decide whether to adopt these robots for use in other prisons. At a forum today at COEX in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul, professors and researchers from various industries and officials from the Ministry of Justice’s correctional department will discuss the “future of correctional science and the development of robots as assistant prison guards.” “We will make a presentation on the progress of the robot’s development, what prison guards think of the robot adoption and whether it will be possible to utilize the visual technology in the future,” said Lee. 1. What do you think of making use of the robot guard in prison?, is it proper? 2. Where do you think using robot system to other areas could be possible? If it`s spreaded to that place, do you agree with that? 3. What do you think of the opinion that robot will replace some of the work position which human is doing now?  What do you think will be the solutions or countermeasures to that, if work positions keep decreasing?