Unification minister calls for passage of human rights bill on N. Korea

By Kim Kwang-tae
SEOUL, June 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's point man on North Korea renewed his calls Friday for the parliamentary endorsement of a bill designed to help improve North Korea's dismal human rights condition.
The bill has been gathering dust in the parliamentary judiciary committee since last year amid concerns that the proposed bill could further sour inter-Korean relations, which plunged to their lowest level in decades following the North's two deadly attacks on the South last year.
The South blames North Korea for the March sinking of a South Korean warship, but the North still adamantly denies its involvement. The North also shelled a front-line South Korean island in November that killed two soldiers and two civilians.
Unification Minister Hyun In-taek said that the National Assembly should pass the bill this month, noting that it is not a matter of politics or ideology.
The bill, if passed, could help "improve North Korea's human rights and raise awareness," Hyun said in a meeting with top ruling party lawmakers and the justice minister at the National Assembly.
Lee Ju-young, chief policymaker of the ruling Grand National Party, expressed hope that the rival political parties can work out differences and endorse the bill.
The bill, among other things, calls for assistance to improve the North's human rights record and humanitarian aid to North Koreans.
North Korea has long been accused of human rights abuses, ranging from holding hundreds of thousands of political prisoners to public executions and torture. Pyongyang denies the accusations, calling them a U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime.
Justice Minister Lee Kwi-nam also called for the bill's passage, though belated, citing similar bills in the United States and Japan.
The United States passed legislation in 2004 to help North Korean defectors settle in the U.S. and promote democracy in the reclusive communist country.
Japan has also passed a law on providing support to North Korean defectors and slapping sanctions on North Korea unless it makes progress in resolving the issue of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korean agents decades ago.
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