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Seoul's opposition lawmakers address human rights in North Korea

South Korean opposition lawmakers met with Unification Minister Lee In-young for a first-time discussion of North Korea human rights Monday. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI
South Korean opposition lawmakers met with Unification Minister Lee In-young for a first-time discussion of North Korea human rights Monday. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo

March 15 (UPI) -- South Korean Unification Minister Lee In-young met with main opposition lawmakers who called for the enforcement of a North Korean Human Rights Act, which was ratified in 2016.

Lawmakers of the People Power Party, including former North Korean diplomat Thae Yong-ho, met with Lee for about 50 minutes, requesting the law's enactment and the appointment of directors for a government-funded North Korea Human Rights Foundation, KBS reported Monday.

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"The government must stop walking on eggshells not to upset the North Korean regime and must properly implement the North Korean Human Rights Act to improve the human rights situation of ordinary North Koreans as soon as possible," Thae said before the meeting, according to Yonhap.

In 2016, South Korea's National Assembly passed the North Korean Human Rights Act. Conservatives also were moving toward creating a Human Rights Foundation, but the issue was tabled after a change of administration and the ruling Democratic Party's landslide victory in parliamentary election in 2020.

The unification ministry said Monday that it accepted the visit of opposition lawmakers "out of respect for the National Assembly" and to maintain active communication.

But the ministry also said that "improving inter-Korean relations through peace and humanitarian cooperation is a more natural and more practical way to advance human rights in North Korea," according to KBS.

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Thae and other lawmakers are pressuring the administration to enforce human rights law after concerns were raised at the United Nations.

U.N. Special Rapporteur for North Korea human rights Tomás Ojea-Quintana mentioned reports of shoot-to-kill orders at the North Korean border amid COVID-19. Summary executions are ongoing, Nikkei Asia reported Saturday.

Ojea-Quintana also called "for the U.N. Security Council to decide on the referral of the situation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to the International Criminal Court," the report said.

North Korea has denied all rights abuse allegations at the U.N., but also has rejected U.N. requests for country access.

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