Controversy Over Candidate Qualifications Even Before Appointment of Director of Human Rights Bureau at Ministry of Justice
Human Rights Organizations Hold Press Conference Today in Front of Cheongwadae Opposing Appointment Attempt of Professor Hong Gwan-pyo
"Criticism of Domestic Human Rights Issues During Lee Myung-bak Administration Defended," They Point Out
[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] Controversy has arisen over the qualifications of a candidate for the successor to Hwang Hee-seok, former Director of the Human Rights Bureau at the Ministry of Justice, who ran as an Open Democratic Party proportional representation candidate in the April 15 general election.
Among the two final candidates publicly announced by the Ministry of Justice, one is Professor Hong Gwan-pyo (46, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 30) of Chonnam National University Law School. It is claimed that he is unfit because he worked in the Ministry of Justice’s Human Rights Bureau during the Lee Myung-bak administration and defended the government’s human rights violations.
The Solidarity for the Enactment of the Anti-Discrimination Act, consisting of 134 human rights and civil society organizations nationwide, and Human Rights Movement Plus, a coalition of 51 human rights organizations nationwide, will hold a press conference opposing Professor Hong’s appointment as Director of the Human Rights Bureau at 11 a.m. on the 14th in front of the Blue House.
In their press release, they stated, “The Director of the Human Rights Bureau at the Ministry of Justice is a position that greatly influences the reality of human rights in our society, and the appointee should be a defender of human rights, not a defender of human rights violations.”
They continued, “Despite human rights and social organizations sincerely submitting opinions, the news that the Ministry of Justice is moving to appoint Professor Hong, who was an employee of the Human Rights Policy Division of the Ministry of Justice during the Lee Myung-bak administration?a regime justly called anti-human rights?and who was only busy defending the Korean government’s human rights violations against international criticism at the time, as the Director of the Human Rights Bureau soon is a great shock.”
They also claimed, “In 2009, Professor Hong defended the government’s position regarding the Yongsan tragedy at the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights held in Geneva, Switzerland, and consistently responded with defense and excuses to criticisms about environmental rights destruction caused by the forced Four Major Rivers Project, thereby obstructing the proper reporting of Korea’s human rights situation to the UN and the international community.”
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Earlier, on the 27th of last month, the Ministry of Justice announced that Professor Hong and lawyer Yeom Hyung-guk (46, class 33), affiliated with the Gonggam Public Interest Human Rights Foundation, passed the final interview in the open recruitment for the Director of the Human Rights Bureau. Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae will appoint one of them.
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