Int'l Activists Accuse Moon of Ignoring N.Koreans' Human Rights

International human rights activists have slammed the South Korean government for not supporting a North Korea resolution of the UN Human Rights Council for a second year running, according to Voice of America on Wednesday.

Greg Scarlatoiu, the executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said, "Seoul used to be one of the key members of an informal coalition of like-minded UN member states that produced very significant and very effective measures addressing the human rights situation in North Korea. [But now] Seoul has given up the high ground it once held."

Phil Robertson, the deputy director of Asia Division at Human Rights Watch, added, "President Moon Jae-in's approach to North Korea can be best characterized as abandoning any human rights principles he ever stood for. His shameful appeasement of [North Korea] and its leaders betrays the UN Human Rights Council's earnest efforts to hold North Korea accountable for its horrific record of rights abuses."

And Robert King, a former special envoy for North Korea human rights issues at the U.S. State Department, said, "The series of temper tantrums by [Kim Jong-un's sister] Yo-jong rejecting valid human rights criticism should be acknowledged. When a child throws a tantrum, ignoring it only encourages such behavior to continue. I regret that Seoul did not speak out."

Suzanne Scholte of the Defense Forum Foundation said, "There is no nation on Earth that has a higher moral obligation to the suffering people [in North Korea] than [South] Korea. They should be at the forefront of advocating for the improvement of human rights in North Korea."