Seoul's effectively increases budget for N.K. human rights

SEOUL, Feb. 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has frozen its annual budget for
supporting activities to improve human rights in North Korea this year, though
the amount is far higher than what the nation's human rights body had requested,
a state panel said Tuesday.

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) said the overall budget for
its activities in 12 categories was cut by 5.38 percent on-year to 4.63 billion
won (US$4 million) for the 2010 fiscal year. Funding for research into North
Korean defectors and human rights conditions in the socialist state remained
unchanged, however, at 331 million won, the independent commission said.
The North Korea-related budget is far larger than 140 million won that the
commission initially asked for, indicating that the government is putting an
emphasis on the issues.
The North Korea budget will be used to fund local and overseas surveys of
defectors from the North and human rights conditions there, as well as to host an
international symposium and domestic forums, and to publish and purchase books.
Last week, a parliamentary committee on foreign affairs endorsed a bill calling
for the improvement of human rights conditions in the North. If enacted, the bill
would be the first of its kind in South Korea. Officials at Seoul's Unification
Ministry in charge of relations with the North said the legislation efforts are
"in line with the government's direction."
President Lee Myung-bak, who took office about a year ago, has vowed efforts to
improve North Korean human rights, breaking away from the policies of his two
liberal predecessors who refrained from such moves over concerns about relations
with the North.
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.
sshim@yna.co.kr
(END)

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