Seoul Proposes Talks with N.Korea Over Human Rights

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se on Tuesday proposed human rights talks with North Korea. Yun said there is no reason why the two Koreas cannot agree to discuss the issue.

Yun, who is accompanying President Park Geun-hye on visits to Canada and the U.S., was attending a meeting in New York.

He said that if the North really wants to claim human rights achievements, it must deal with the issue of South Korean prisoners of war who still languish in the North since the 1950-53 Korean War, as well as the families separated by the war.

He urged the North to engage in a "broad range" of talks with the international community about its dismal human rights records.

It remains to be seen whether the North will respond since it flatly denies any human rights abuses.

The meeting, chaired by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, was also attended by the foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan, as well as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein.

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