Parliamentary committee OKs N.K. human rights bill

By Tony Chang
SEOUL, Feb. 11 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean parliamentary committee on Thursday
endorsed a bill calling for the improvement of human rights conditions in North
Korea, brightening the prospects of the legislation gaining approval at a plenary
session.
The National Assembly's foreign affairs committee approved the bill submitted by
the ruling Grand National Party, which calls for an establishment of a government
body dedicated to the issue of North Korean human rights and provision of support
for nongovernmental organizations working to improve the situation.
The bill was forwarded to the judiciary committee for further review before being
put to a plenary vote.
North Korea has long been labeled one of the worst human rights violators in the
world. The totalitarian regime does not tolerate dissent and holds hundreds of
thousands of people in political prison camps across the nation. Pyongyang has
bristled at any talk of its human rights conditions, calling it an attempt to
overthrow the regime.
The bill, however, failed to win consent from members of the main opposition
Democratic Party, as they boycotted the vote and demanded further deliberation
due to the sensitive nature of the legislation.
The Democratic Party said in a statement said that they recognize the dire human
rights condition in the North but also argued that the bill was in effect an
"anti-North Korean" bill, insisting that it would lead to "prolonging of the
chilled ties between the two Koreas while strengthening clampdowns in the North
to consolidate the regime's security."
A similar bill was raised in the previous 17th National Assembly, but failed to
win approval as the then-ruling Uri Party opposed the bill over concerns that it
could strain relations with the communist neighbor.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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