EU Lawmakers Urge Nat'l Assembly Over N.Korea Rights

Four members of the European Parliament have written to the leaders of Korea's four major parties and National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae urging them to pass the North Korean Human Rights Act. The four sent their letter on Oct. 11.

In July, 20 members of the UK Parliament sent the similar letter. Despite being first tabled in 2005, the act has been pending in the National Assembly due to cavils from the opposition parties.

Ha Tae-kyoung of Open Radio for North Korea said, "Over 40 human rights groups from all over the world met in Tokyo last month and launched the International Coalition to Stop Crimes against Humanity (ICNK) on North Korea, and European officials greatly sympathized with the cause of the North Korean Human Rights Act and said they would talk to the European Parliament. There are movements in other countries including Latin America to join in this campaign to urge the South Korean government to enact this Act."

The signatories are David Martin of the U.K. and Portugal's Ana Maria Gomes from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, Lithuanian Leonidas Donskis from the rightwing Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, and Denmark's Anna Rosbach is with European Conservatives and Reformists.

They called for creation of an ambassador position and an advisory committee on North Korean human rights issues, and establishment of archive dedicated to the subject.