"North Korea Human Rights Resolution, Detailed Account of North Korean Atrocities" Letter to President Yoon

Letter to President Yoon from detainee's family member Kim Jeong-sam
Year-end UN General Assembly resolution submission... "Expression must be strengthened"
"Condemn North Korea's human rights violations"... Urging government diplomatic efforts

Kim Jeong-sam, the brother of missionary Kim Jeong-uk who is detained in North Korea, along with human rights organizations from around the world, sent a letter to President Yoon Suk-yeol and the European Union (EU) requesting that the language in the North Korea human rights resolution to be adopted at the UN General Assembly this December be strengthened. This is interpreted as urging the South Korean government’s diplomatic efforts to ensure that North Korea’s atrocities against unrepatriated Korean War POWs, detainees, and defectors are more explicitly stated.

According to a compilation of reports by Asia Economy on the 22nd, Kim and 14 human rights organizations from four countries?including the Korean Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG), the North Korea Human Rights Citizens’ Alliance (NKHR), the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), Canada’s Han Voice, and the UK’s Bridge?sent the letter that afternoon addressed to President Yoon and the EU.

North Korean Flag

In the letter to President Yoon, Kim and the organizations mentioned ▲that the joint statement of the trilateral summit between South Korea, the U.S., and Japan held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, last November included the “North Korea detainee issue,” ▲that in December of the same year, a joint statement by 31 countries at the UN urged the “repatriation of North Korean detainees, abductees, and Korean War POWs,” and ▲that the joint statement of the South Korea-U.S. summit in April this year pledged to strengthen “cooperation to resolve the abductee, detainee, and Korean War POW issues.” They appealed for the South Korean government to work toward making the language in the North Korea human rights resolution more specific.

The North Korea human rights resolution has been adopted for 21 consecutive years since 2003, starting with the UN Human Rights Commission (the predecessor of the Human Rights Council). Each year, the resolution is adopted in the first half at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, and in the second half at the General Assembly in New York, USA. Although the resolution was adopted again at the Human Rights Council in April, the language describing North Korea’s atrocities against abductees, detainees, and Korean War POWs remained vague. Since the resolution adopted at the end of the year supplements the previous resolutions, the letter sent by Kim and others is an appeal for the government’s diplomatic efforts ahead of the UN General Assembly in December.

Specifically, Kim and others pointed out that the phrase “expressing concern over ongoing human rights violations against unrepatriated prisoners of war and their descendants” has been repeated unchanged since March 2021 in the North Korea human rights resolution. They demand that North Korea’s human rights violations by the authorities be detailed as “forced labor and enslavement, torture, detention, enforced disappearance, execution, discrimination based on the songbun system, and forced family separation.”

They particularly criticized the absence of any mention of the “nationality” of six South Korean detainees, including missionary Kim Jeong-uk, Kim Guk-gi, Choi Chun-gil, Kim Won-ho, Ko Hyun-cheol, and one unidentified person, and demanded that the resolution explicitly state their names along with “Republic of Korea citizens.” In the past, the UN Human Rights Council directly mentioned Aung San Suu Kyi by name in resolutions this year, appealing for her immediate release from detention.

Furthermore, they expressed concern that if North Korea opens its sealed borders, defectors in China could be forcibly repatriated, and urged that “forced abortions and infanticide of pregnant women and their children” be explicitly recognized as reprisals suffered by forcibly repatriated North Koreans. They also requested that the resolution urge the fulfillment of the non-refoulement obligation under the Convention Against Torture, as such forced repatriation policies (by the Chinese government) violate this obligation.

"North Korean residents are not just anybody"...Urging government efforts

In December 2014, Ambassador Oh Joon to the United Nations is speaking at the UN Security Council meeting held at the United Nations Headquarters in the United States. [Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Finally, the organizations recalled former Ambassador Oh Joon’s past speech and urged the South Korean government to seriously consider becoming a “key co-sponsor” of the North Korea human rights resolution alongside the EU at the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council. South Korea had been absent from the list of co-sponsors for four years during the Moon Jae-in administration but returned as a co-sponsor starting with the Human Rights Council resolution in April.

Previously, in December 2014, when the “North Korea human rights” issue was adopted as a formal agenda item at the UN Security Council for the first time, former Ambassador Oh delivered a famous speech stating, "To South Koreans, North Korean residents are not just anybodies." His impromptu speech without a script resonated deeply with Korean youth and the international community and continues to be frequently referenced in discussions on North Korean human rights nearly a decade later.

Shin Hee-seok, legal analyst at the Transitional Justice Working Group, said, “In the Crimean human rights resolution that South Korea supported for the first time last December, the names of nine Ukrainian political prisoners detained by Russian occupation authorities were explicitly mentioned, urging their release.” He added, “If the language in the North Korea human rights resolution is strengthened, it will signal to the international community that North Korea’s serious human rights violations, which have been long-term, systematic, and widespread, are not forgotten.” He also urged, "Our government should consult with families of Korean War POWs and detainees, as well as North Korean human rights NGOs, before submitting the resolution, just like other countries do.”

▶Below is the list of signatory organizations: 1 individual, 14 human rights organizations from 4 countries

Kim Jeong-sam (brother of missionary Kim Jeong-uk, detained in North Korea since 2013), 1969 KAL Hijacking Victims’ Families Association, North Korea Human Rights Citizens’ Alliance (NKHR), Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK, USA), Han Voice (Canada), Human Asia, Center for the Promotion of North Korean Human Rights, North Korea Justice Coalition, Korean War POW Families Association, Mulmangcho, People Creating Successful Unification (PSCORE), Save NK, Bridge (UK), THINK, Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG)

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.