S. Korea drops bid for chairmanship of int'l human rights body

SEOUL, July 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's human rights watchdog said Thursday it
has decided to give up fielding a candidate for the rotating chairman of an
international human rights organization.

Hyun Byung-chul, a former college professor who took over as the head of the
National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) on July 16, had been widely
seen as a candidate for the post of chairman of the International Coordination
Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion on Protection of Human
Rights (ICC).
Hyun was picked by President Lee Myung-bak after his predecessor, Ahn Kyong-hwan,
suddenly stepped down amid escalating conflict over a government-initiated
downsizing of the watchdog.
According to a source at the NHRCK, the South Korean human rights chief had been
slated to become the new chief of the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights
Institutions (APF) at its general conference on Aug. 3 in Jordan. Under current
ICC rules, the APF chairman is to assume the next rotating chairmanship of the
ICC.
"After considering many options, South Korea has finally decided not to put up a
candidate for APF chairman. Instead, we concluded that it is more desirable to
concentrate on resolving various pending issues at home," the NHRCK said in a
press release.
The statement came after some civic activist groups in South Korea raised strong
opposition to Hyun's nomination as a candidate for APF chairman, citing his lack
of experience in human rights affairs.
Since his inauguration, liberal civic activists have stubbornly argued that Hyun
is not qualified to serve as the chairman of the NHRCK because he has not engaged
in human rights movements or carried out any human rights-related studies.
An official at the NHRCK claimed the reason his agency dropped its quest for the
chairmanship, however, is because of the impact of the recent downsizing.
"Systemic state assistance is necessary for the NHRCK to take the top post of the
ICC. But a sweeping downsizing earlier this year has posed difficulties for us,"
said the official.
The South Korean government has ordered the NHRCK to restructure its "bloated"
organization and slash its staff by one-fifth as part of a government-wide effort
to reduce public sector spending.
brk@yna.co.kr
(END)