(EDITORIAL from Korea Times on Nov. 24)

Rights resolution
:NK should heed international calls to prevent abuses

The international community has again reaffirmed its concerns about human rights
violations in North Korea. A United Nations committee Friday approved a draft
resolution calling for improvement in the communist country's human rights
situation. This year's draft carries special meaning because South Korea jointly
initiated it for the first time.
It is obvious that the South's move has reflected President Lee Myung-bak's
pledge not to keep silent on the North Korean regime's flagrant abuses of basic
rights. His policy is in contrast with that of his predecessor, Roh Moo-hyun,
whose liberal government sat on its hands on the North's rights violations. Seoul
had been absent or abstained from the vote for a series of U.N. rights
resolutions against the world's last Stalinist state since 2003.
South Korea cast a yes vote for such a resolution only in 2006, when the North
backpedaled on its denuclearization commitment by detonating nuclear bombs in
underground experiments. Thus, Seoul's joint initiation of the draft U.N.
resolution shows its strong willingness to work with the European Union, Japan
and 48 other countries to help protect basic human rights of North Koreans.
The draft resolution is expected to get approval from the U.N. General Assembly
next month. Thus, the communist country should no longer continue to turn a deaf
ear to mounting international calls for improvement of its human rights
situation. The North's ruling elite must fully respect all human rights and
fundamental freedoms by immediately ending its systematic, widespread and grave
violations.
North Korea can never become a decent member of the international community
without respecting universal values, including human rights. It is a pity that an
estimated 150,000 to 200,000 North Koreans are incarcerated in political prison
camps. Outrageous rights abuses include extra-judicial killings, arbitrary
detentions, public executions and severe punishment of refugees repatriated from
China.
What's really regrettable is that Pyongyang is still considering the U.N. move as
a political ploy to forcibly change its regime and ideology. On Saturday, North
Korea renewed its threat to retaliate against Seoul's ``confrontational policy"
toward the isolated country. On Nov. 12, the North announced a bombshell plan to
strictly control border crossings from Dec. 1 in protest of President Lee's
hard-line policy.
If the plan is put into action, already strained inter-Korean relations will be
thrown into jeopardy. Undoubtedly, the operation of an inter-Korean industrial
complex in the North's border town of Gaeseong might be suspended after a halt in
the Mt. Geumgang tourism project. It seems that Pyongyang is trying to put more
pressure on Seoul before U.S. President-elect Barack Obama takes office in
January.
Against this backdrop, South Korea is required to step up its cooperation with
the U.S., Japan and other neighboring countries in tackling the North's rights
issues and its denuclearization process. It is fortunate that President Lee
agreed Saturday with U.S. President George W. Bush and Japanese Prime Minister
Taro Aso to resume the six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear disarmament next
month. The agreement was reached on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, Peru.
We call on the North to abandon its notorious brinkmanship policy and return to
the negotiating table. The Kim Jong-il regime should change to move toward peace,
reconciliation and co-prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.
(END)