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Pros and cons were exchanged between the ruling and opposition parties Friday over some Uri Party junior lawmakers' move to push a resolution criticizing the North Korea Human Rights Act that the U.S. House of Representatives passed Wednesday. Some civic organizations charged that the human rights act "is trying to induce the collapse of the North Korean system."
¡ß Don't Interfere in Internal Affairs of North Korea"
Uri Party Representative Jung Bong-ju, who is promoting the motion, asserted, "We cannot but regard the North Korea Human Rights Act as a scheme aimed at suffocating North Korea." "Though we agree with the improvement of universal human rights, driving Pyongyang to the edge by making an issue out of its human rights will dampen inter-Korean rapprochement," he went on. "To resolve the North's human rights issue, North Korea should be drawn into an arena of dialogue."
Ten civic organizations, including the Human Rights Movement Neighborhood, asserted in a statement Friday, "We cannot consent to the notion and approach that pressure and isolation of North Korea can improve human rights. The act will eventually harm peace on the Korean Peninsula." "Outsiders' attempt to change the North Korean system constitutes an interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country," they added. "Inducement of defection from North Korea can rouse suspicion that [the U.S.] is trying to make the North Korean system collapse."
¡ß Governing Party Calls for "Prudent Approach"
A voice calling for a prudent approach to the North Korean Human Rights Act has been raised within the governing Uri Party. Diplomat-turned lawmaker Jung Ui-yong objected to the pushing of a critical resolution "from the perspective of mutual understanding," reasoning, "Because which approach is appropriate to the issue of North Korean human rights is controversial, we cannot listen to the unilateral voice of one side only." Ahn Yung-gun, chairman of the first policy coordination committee, said, "We'll prudently study how to cope with the matter after having grasped its accurate contents."
¡ß Do You Avert Your Eyes from our North Korean Brethren?"
Many lawmakers of the opposition Grand National Party refuted, asking if it constituted interference in the internal affairs of Myanmar when the South Korean government, though a comment by the Foreign and Trade Ministry spokesman, last year expressed concerns about the Myanmar government's protective custody of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Representative Lee Han-gu, policy committee chairman of the GNP, told a meeting of major party executives, "Human rights is a universal value. If a child is abused by someone, it is natural for the neighbors to raise the issue and report it to authorities." Recalling that former American President Jimmy Carter, who visited Korea during the Park Chung-hee military regime, was welcomed by Korean intellectuals when he raised the human rights issue of the country, Lee called on the ruling party, "Don't distort the question based on a strange yardstick."
GNP spokesperson Jun Yeo-ok issued a comment, asserting, "If Uri Party lawmakers take the human rights of North Koreans as a card on a gambling table for inter-Korean dialogue, they will be strictly judged by our future history."
(Jung Wu-sang, imagine@chosun.com )
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