U.K. congressmen urge Seoul parliament to pass N. Korean rights bill

SEOUL, July 26 (Yonhap) -- A group of British parliamentarians have sent letters to the representatives of South Korea's ruling and opposition parties, urging them to pass a bill aimed at improving the rights situation in North Korea, the chief of a radio station specializing in North Korean affairs said Tuesday.
The North Korea human rights bill has been stuck in limbo for years in the South Korean parliament. Opposition lawmakers have opposed the bill out of concern that it could further sour inter-Korean relations, which plunged to their lowest ebb in decades following the North's deadly attacks on the South last year.
Twenty British upper and lower house lawmakers, who are members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), have sent letters to the chiefs of four parties, including the ruling Grand National Party and the main opposition Democratic Party, to urge them to act on the bill to help improve rights conditions in the reclusive communist nation.
"The North Korean human rights bill is aimed at establishing a systematic framework to improve the rights situation in the North," the letter said.
The letters come after Ha Tae-kyung, head of Open Radio for North Korea, met APPG members last month to ask for their cooperation in the bill passage. The letters are expected to arrive in South Korea later this week, Ha said.
North Korea has long been accused of human rights abuses, ranging from holding hundreds of thousands of political prisoners to torture and public executions. Pyongyang denies the accusations, calling them a U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
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