Human Rights Commission: "Democratic Party Must Promptly Recommend Directors for North Korea Human Rights Foundation"

As the North Korean Human Rights Foundation continues to remain unestablished, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has urged the Democratic Party of Korea, which has not recommended directors for the foundation, to make prompt recommendations.

On the 23rd, the NHRC announced that on the 25th of last month, it recommended the floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea to promptly recommend five directors of the North Korean Human Rights Foundation to the Speaker of the National Assembly. Additionally, it recommended the Speaker to continuously urge the Democratic Party’s negotiation group to recommend directors and complete the National Assembly’s director recommendation process.

The North Korean Human Rights Act was passed without opposition in the National Assembly on March 2, 2016, and has been in effect since September 4 of the same year. The Act stipulates the establishment of the North Korean Human Rights Foundation, which conducts investigations, research, and policy development related to the promotion of North Korean human rights. The foundation is to have up to 12 directors, composed of two recommended by the Minister of Unification and an equal number recommended by the ruling and opposition negotiation groups in the National Assembly.

The Minister of Unification recommended two directors to the Speaker of the National Assembly on September 13 last year, and the People Power Party’s negotiation group recommended five directors on August 8 last year; however, the Democratic Party’s negotiation group has yet to recommend any directors. Despite seven years since the enforcement of the North Korean Human Rights Act, the foundation has not been launched. The Democratic Party’s negotiation group responded that "there are aspects of the law that require review, and internal discussions are ongoing."

The NHRC stated, "Recommending directors is not only a power of state institutions but also a shared obligation to enable the formation of the foundation," adding, "The Ministry of Unification has requested director recommendations 12 times since 2016, and it has been over a year since the People Power Party’s negotiation group recommended five directors; therefore, the explanation that the law is under review does not constitute a reasonable justification for delaying the fulfillment of the director recommendation obligation."

Furthermore, the NHRC pointed out, "The Speaker of the National Assembly’s duty to cooperate is not merely to mechanically recommend the directors nominated by the ruling and opposition negotiation groups to the Minister of Unification," and "It also includes the obligation to urge negotiation groups that have not recommended directors to do so."

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