[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] Thomas Ojea Quintana, the UN Special Rapporteur on North Korean Human Rights, is attracting attention with his extensive activities during his visit to South Korea, including meetings with National Assembly and government officials as well as interviews with residents of the inter-Korean border area.
According to diplomatic sources on the 20th, Rapporteur Quintana listened to testimonies from residents of areas affected by the distribution of leaflets to North Korea, including Cheorwon, Yeoncheon, Paju, Gimpo, and Ganghwado, at the Borderline Peace School located beyond the Civilian Control Line (CCL) the previous morning.
The residents shared their difficulties caused by the leaflet distribution, and Rapporteur Quintana expressed his view, saying, “My opinion regarding freedom of expression does not seem to have been clearly reported in the media,” adding, “According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, certain freedoms can be restricted, and such restrictions come with conditions.”
He then moved to the Cheorwon Peace Observatory, where he observed the Military Demarcation Line, Southern Limit Line, Northern Limit Line, and South and North guard posts.
This visit is significant as it marks the first time a UN Special Rapporteur on North Korean Human Rights has visited Cheorwon in Gangwon Province, an inter-Korean border area.
While maintaining a critical stance that the Act on the Prohibition of Leaflet Distribution to North Korea excessively punishes political expression, Rapporteur Quintana has also shown a willingness to consider the need to protect residents in the border area and expressed his intention to visit the border region.
During his previous six visits to South Korea, he stayed only in Seoul, but on this seventh visit, he crossed the Civilian Control Line (CCL) to directly experience the military confrontation site between the South and North and listen to residents’ opinions regarding the leaflets.
In the afternoon, Rapporteur Quintana visited the office of the North Korean human rights organization Mulmangcho in Seoul and interviewed three victims who were South Korean prisoners of war during the Korean War.
According to officials, Quintana said, “I was able to meet the South Korean prisoners of war in person, whom I had only seen in documents, and understand their emotions.”
Earlier, on the 16th, Rapporteur Quintana met consecutively with vice ministers from the Ministry of Unification and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss the human rights situation in North Korea.
He exchanged views with Choi Young-jun, Vice Minister of Unification, on humanitarian issues such as the humanitarian situation inside North Korea and reunions of separated families.
Rapporteur Quintana then paid a courtesy call on Choi Jong-moon, Second Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, to discuss ways to cooperate with the international community to improve North Korean human rights and humanitarian conditions.
On the 17th, he met with Lee Rae-jin, the brother of a public official killed by North Korean soldiers in the West Sea in September 2020, and Hwang In-cheol, the son of a passenger aboard the Korean Air (KAL) flight abducted by North Korea in 1969.
Lee and Hwang met with Rapporteur Quintana at the Seoul UN Human Rights Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, requesting a joint South-North investigation into the incidents and urging the UN to strongly protest to both the South Korean and North Korean governments regarding the cases.
On the 18th, he held a meeting with members of the National Assembly at the National Assembly Members’ Office Building on the theme of international cooperation to improve North Korean human rights issues.
He will stay until the 23rd, collecting data to prepare a report on North Korean human rights to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council next month. Quintana, who began his term in August 2016, is on his seventh visit to South Korea. He is scheduled to conclude his six-year term this August.
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