[Global NK Interview] Unresolved North Korean Human Rights Issues: The Responsibility of the North Korean Regime and the South Korean Government

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqq1EigfUvc

The East Asia Institute (EAI) invited Tae Yong-ho, Supreme Council Member of the People Power Party, to discuss improvements in North Korean human rights issues and the prospects for inter-Korean economic cooperation. Tae Yong-ho cited Kim Jong Un's rule of terror and South Korea's political polarization as reasons why, despite various efforts to resolve human rights issues, including the North Korean Human Rights Act passed in 2016, no change has occurred. He also emphasized that as long as the North Korean regime prioritizes the advancement of its weapons capabilities, the resumption of inter-Korean economic cooperation through the Kaesong Industrial Complex is unlikely.

I. Human rights violations under merciless Kim Jong Un

• In communist states, “as the living standards and income level of people improve, the level of human rights violations also generally decreases.” However, this has not been the case in North Korea.

• During the past ten years, the North Korean regime’s human rights violations have been committed “at a level unimaginable even to the elites.” In the course of the power struggle, Kim Jong Un went as far as killing his own family members, and shut down the entire borders during the COVID pandemic.

II. Polarization and inconsistency forestall progress in addressing DPRK human rights

• South Korea “cannot reach a single compromise on the issue of North Korean human rights” because “the whole country is so polarized.”

• On March 30, 2023, the South Korean government published its first human rights report on North Korea. South Korea is the “last country among free democracies to release such report at the government-level.”

• The policy inconsistency on North Korean human rights under different administrations also affect the inter-Korean relations. The North Korean regime assesses whether the South Korean government is willing to improve inter-Korean relations by watching whether the government brings up human rights issues.

• Rep. Tae “always strongly urge[s] the South Korean government, regardless of its political stance, to maintain consistency in dealing with the North Korean human rights issues.”

III. Grim future ahead for inter-Korean economic cooperation

• The two reasons why inter-Korean economic cooperation through the Kaesong Industrial Complex has been closed are as follows: (1) international pressure to stop South Korean government from delivering cash notes to pay the North Korean workers, and (2) the risk of letting North Korea justify its weapons development.

• If North Korea does not stop its weapons testing and development, there is no hope of resuming the Industrial Complex. ■

※ Please cite accordingly when referencing this source.

■ Tae Yong-ho_is the member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea for the Gangnam Gab district. He is the first Korean from North Korea to be elected by constituent as a member of the National Assembly, appointed as the ruling People Power Party’s International Relations Committee Chairman, selected as the Vice Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and unification of the National Assembly, and elected as the member of the Supreme Council of the ruling party.

■ Editor and Manager: Park Ji-soo, EAI Research Fellow

Inquiries: 02 2277 1683 (ext. 208) | jspark@eai.or.kr

Video Transcript

I used to be a North Korean Deputy ambassador to a United Kingdom and I defected North Korea in 2016 and this is my seventh year in South Korea and fortunately I came to South Korea with my wife and two sons so basically all of my our family members are now with me in a Seoul uh my wife is just staying at home as a housekeeper and write some books my two sons are all in South Korean University students and I have been I used to be a North Korean a diplomat for almost 30 years and I stayed almost 12 years in Denmark

Sweden and two terms in London and now as I am introduced I'm working as a member of National Assembly and my party is ruling party from one year ago I usually of course we see that Communist States are one party system that's why there is no any uh systematic you know the balance of powers and there is no any uh a civil society which can check or advise or investigate the government's policy on human rights but in general when the Communist uh governments are unborn at the first stage uh uh there are usually Advanced

violation of human rights in the first 10 or 20 even 30 years so that was the General case in former Soviet Union China to some extent in Cuba or in Vietnam but as the living as standards the people are improving and the level of the income of the people are getting increased the level of human rights violations are also you know the decrease so if there is a more Improvement of the economy and Society than the the violation of human rights in communist countries are going down uh that is the general case but that is not the case in

North Korea so for instance after Kim Jong-un the grandson of Kim Wilson came into power in 2011 and so far he has been in the rule of North Korea for almost 10 years and in the past 10 years those you know the violations of human rights by him and the regime against North Korean people cannot be even imaginable or cannot be even expected uh by the people like me as well so for instance of course in the whole history of North Korea you know there was successive of purges executions and uh all those human rights violations

but even the North Carolina leads did not expect that for the during the process of this power struggle Kim Jong-un even decided to kill his uncle in law you know so nobody expected that he was such a kind of you know a merciless leader as a kind of young boy at the age of 27 or 28 at that time and even the people like me you know do not expect that he even decided to kill his half brother not only you know you know dark streets of a certain country but in the International Airport it just an open

place where CCTV and where the in the place where the world are watching you know he decided to kill his uh half brother so this kind of the level of pound Squirtle and the those instances of merciless you know the purge even inside his family even escalated to the whole society of North Korea so for instance uh during this uh three years of Corona you know the period uh Kim Jong you know ordered the most you know inhuman uh Corona uh and the uh how can I say yeah the measures to put to prevent the virus arrive North Korea

so he ordered uh the Army to kill anything anything in sight which you know tried to come inside North Korea so all along the borderline of North Korea with China and Russia the army uh soldiers were already ready to shoot anything whether it is human or bird or any kind of animal and in inter Korean relations uh one South Korean fisherman you know he accidentally swam across the borderline of north and south and he swam oh I know whether she was you know drafted to the North Korea side and he was caught by the North Korean Soldier

and he was short after several hours of the court and the whole body was burnt they throw the oil and burnt the whole body in front of our South Korean Fisherman's you know the distance so from a distance of several kilometers and from the air with the the form of my government could exactly see how he was shot and how the whole body was burnt I think you can easily oh witness and watch at the level of freedom and democracy of South Korea uh to my own Viewpoint South Korea I think is the most you know the free and uh the level

of South Korea's democracy is to my interpretation even I think uh much better than America and United Kingdom you know where I lived so that the general standards of the freedom and the democracy is very high in South Korea you you see in South Korea usually the fate of former presidents are not you know happy as well because there is a very strong uh how can I say uh the check and the people's civil rights you know the mentality is very high in South Korea but when North Korea human rights issues on

the table the whole country are so much divided and polarized so in the parliament every day every month we politicians discuss how to further improve democracy and human rights of South Korea but when we discuss how we can improve North Korean human rights we can't even reach any kind of single compromise on these issues of South Korea today is very significant day because South Korean government my the current government uh uh has decided to publicly open the the shimo rights government report

on North Korea this is the first report by the South Korean government so usually the foreigners are surprised and alarmed why so far South Korean government has not released any official report on North Korean human rights for instance I served as North Korean Diplomat in London every year British foreign office release a human rights report on every country and on North Korean part there are several pages every on North Korea and they update the human rights violations in North Korea in America in Japan in U.N

as well the worldwide South Korea is the last country to my impression in free democracy worlds to release the human rights report on North Korea at the government level and according to the law in South Korea human rights Foundation must be established by now because the law on North Korean Human Rights was enacted in 2016 but after this kind of you know the long period of seven years even the two parties ruling and opposition cannot agree on establishment of this Foundation you know so we can't move any one step

further so it is so much polarized in South Korean politics that is one of the reason that in the past when the government changes the policy on North Korean human rights also changed many people do not quite understand why the former government wonjin's government did not take part in the member of drafting the Northern Human Rights resolutions by United Nations after three years of absence on drafting the U.N resolution on North Korea last year the current government was decided to take part in drafting on the

text of U.N resolution in United Nations so this is a huge question and topic even by United Nation member states why South Korean government sometimes you know lead s the trumpeting of the document but sometimes they decide to absent for several years so it is very changeable and this kind of you know the change of the governments or North Korean human rights actually affects the intercourage relations as well so North Korean government always regards whether the current South Korean government is willing to improve

intercourage relations or Not by watching where the government is going to raise human rights issues on North Korea or not so if any government wants to release anything on North Korean human rights then North Korean region would immediately say oh you are not interested in the Improvement of intercal relations so North Korean human rights issues in this country now has become a kind of you know milderstone whether the government is decided to go further and improve the intercom relations or not so but this is really

you know very bad and uh you know undesirable uh trained so far so I really always strongly urge my government whatever got the character of the government is that the government should maintain continuancy and consistency in dealing with North consumer rights issues thank you now the air guessing industrial project uh between North and South was closed and there's so far there is no any hope to resume or reopen and uh one of there are two elements why it is closed and a very few hope of resumption the first one is uh in the

past at the payment to the workers of North Koreans working in industrial Zone uh were paid in caches in boxes so every month uh South Korean government just delivered uh 10 million U.S dollar notes in boxes to a North Korean regime every month so after the continuation of North Korea's nuclear bomb the U.N you know sent an alarm that these uh cash delivery to North Korean regime could make not only South Korea but the world more dangerous so there was a continuous pressure to stop it you know delivering of cash

notes by the boxes and the another thing is that even after the world and South Korean public have seen the continuation of these nuclear tests and missile tests if South Korea continues to run this industrial complex it could justify the North Korea's continuation of nuclear missiles against South Korea so now if North Korea does not stop these developments I don't think there is any hope to resume this industrial complex