Seoul Lawyers Debate N.Korean Human Rights
Lawyers doing good for Human Kind? Now I have seen everything
The group rejected silence about North Korean human rights for the sake of economic cooperation or to avoid upsetting the North, and affirmed its belief that only international cooperation and active efforts to improve human rights in the North can lead to peaceful unification. It added the Bar Associations 5,000 members prayed that North Koreans will soon see an end to public executions and forced labor camps.
The Seoul Bar Association on Friday held a landmark symposium on North Korean human rights and called on the Stalinist country to improve its dismal record.
In a closing declaration, participating lawyers said the South Korean government claimed to be taking a gradual approach to human rights in the North but had in fact been consistently tepid on the issue. It expressed concern that the governments logic ran along the same lines as that of South Koreas past military dictators, who suppressed human rights under the pretext of economic development or the threat of war.
The group rejected silence about North Korean human rights for the sake of economic cooperation or to avoid upsetting the North, and affirmed its belief that only international cooperation and active efforts to improve human rights in the North can lead to peaceful unification. It added the Bar Associations 5,000 members prayed that North Koreans will soon see an end to public executions and forced labor camps.
Fridays symposium was a milestone in the Seoul Bar Associations transformation into a human rights group and advocate of the rights of North Koreans. The association also started up a collection among members to support more concrete efforts.
Its head Lee Baek-su said the group was collecting money for concerted activities because it judged that simply conveying to the people the situation of starving North Koreans was not enough to improve the human rights situation in the country.
Originally reported by Chosun Ilbo
