Grand National Party policy point man Lee Joo Young has reaffirmed the GNP’s desire to pass the North Korean Human Rights Law, rejecting Democratic Party claims that the legislation is ineffective and should be merged with their own competing legislation.
“I wish to clarify again that the North Korean Human Rights Law must be passed in the June National Assembly,” Lee told a meeting of key committee members at the National Assembly today.
“The Democratic Party’s insistence that there is no need to enact the North Korean Human Rights Law because it is ineffective must be set aside. We urge the Democratic Party to realize the suffering of our North Korean brethren when they turn away from the North Korean Human Rights Law,” he went on.
“Doesn’t North Korea engage in talks with the United States, which does have a North Korea Human Rights Law?” Lee added. “Recently, a Taekwondo team from North Korea did a demonstration in New York, and the US Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights visited North Korea and discussed human rights problems. The Democratic Party must take a long look at these events.”
“What’s ironic is that North Korea refuses to talk to South Korea, which does not have a North Korean Human Rights Law,” he also noted. “Thus, to say that the creation of a North Korean Human Rights Law will make inter-Korean relations worse is no longer valid.”
Moreover, “We must think about the reason why our North Korean brethren who have defected come here and demand a North Korean Human Rights Law.”
Meanwhile, the GNP’s point man on North Korean human rights, defectors and abductees, lawmaker Lee Eun Jae said of the Democratic Party’s North Korean Livelihoods and Human Rights Law, “This can only be seen as a bill to protect the Kim Jong Il system. The North Korean Human Rights Law, which is currently pending in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, must pass, even if it requires the use of authority.”
On the 14th, the Democratic Party made the suggestion of a merger between the North Korean Human Rights Law and its own North Korean Livelihoods and Human Rights Law.
