North Korea Human Rights Foundation Adrift for 8 Years, Now Hampered by 'Yeo-sa Issue'

North Korea Issue Stakeholder, Yet Later Than US and Japan
Eight Years of Political Strife Since North Korea Human Rights Act Enactment
Ruling Party Proposes Amendment... Democratic Party's Response Uncertain

The launch of the North Korean Human Rights Foundation has been delayed for eight years due to political conflicts. This time, it appears to have been pushed aside amid efforts to introduce a special inspector and promote a special prosecutor law linked to the issue of First Lady Kim Geon-hee. Although the ruling party has even proposed a bill to amend the law, the foundation’s launch still seems uncertain in the 22nd National Assembly, where the ruling party holds a minority.

According to the Ministry of Unification on the 20th, the government must establish the North Korean Human Rights Foundation under the North Korean Human Rights Act enacted in 2016. The organization is tasked with investigating the human rights situation in North Korea and conducting related research and policy development. However, the foundation’s launch has been delayed for eight years. The foundation is to have up to 12 directors, including the chairman, but the Democratic Party of Korea has never nominated any candidates for the opposition’s share of directors.

This issue requires a comparison between South Korea’s situation, where 'politicization of human rights' has occurred, and the international community’s perspective. For instance, the North Korean Human Rights Act, which serves as the basis for addressing North Korean human rights issues, was enacted and implemented by the United States in 2004 and Japan in 2006. South Korea, the party directly involved in the North Korean issue, is more than ten years behind.

The investigation and research on human rights violations are similar. Although the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea (COI) was launched and issued an official report in 2014, the South Korean government first publicly published a North Korean human rights report only under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. Research on North Korean human rights issues still relies heavily on private sector capabilities.

During the previous administration, the United Future Party attempted to link the introduction of a special inspector with the launch of the North Korean Human Rights Foundation. However, after a protracted dispute with the Democratic Party, which argued that the High-ranking Officials’ Crime Investigation Office (PCC) could replace the function, the effort failed. The special inspector is an institution that oversees the president’s spouse, relatives within the fourth degree, and senior presidential office officials such as chief secretaries. It was introduced during the Park Geun-hye administration but has remained vacant since the first inspector resigned amid the impeachment process. While it is problematic that the Democratic Party has not implemented the law for eight years, it is also difficult to avoid criticism of 'politicization of human rights' since the conservative camp tried to link unrelated political matters with human rights issues.

Under the current administration, the People Power Party also pushed to link the introduction of the special inspector with the nomination of directors for the North Korean Human Rights Foundation. Politically, this was a card offered to the opposition as an alternative to the special prosecutor law concerning First Lady Kim Geon-hee. However, the Democratic Party effectively rejected both. It is interpreted that, holding a large number of seats already, the party judged that responding positively to the special inspector card could undermine the justification for the special prosecutor law.

Ultimately, the People Power Party decided to separate the two issues and responded accordingly, proposing an amendment to the North Korean Human Rights Act as a party bill the day before. The amendment sets a deadline for the National Assembly to nominate directors within 30 days of the government’s request, and if nominations are not made, allows the Minister of Unification to appoint directors by authority after a re-request. This means they intend to find a way to launch the North Korean Human Rights Foundation independently, even if the Democratic Party does not cooperate.

However, in a political environment where the ruling party is in the minority, amending the law is not easy. Ultimately, even under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, which has emphasized North Korean human rights as a pillar of its North Korea policy, progress toward launching the North Korean Human Rights Foundation seems difficult to expect. There are calls for bipartisan cooperation as a priority to realize the purpose of the North Korean Human Rights Act.

The government is first trying to move the Democratic Party again based on judicial rulings. The Ministry of Unification sent an official letter to the National Assembly urging the nomination of directors, citing the Seoul High Court ruling on the lawsuit confirming the illegality of non-nomination of directors, which was issued on the 17th of last month. This is the second letter in the 22nd National Assembly and the fourteenth overall.

The Seoul High Court overturned the lower court’s decision in a lawsuit filed by the Lawyers for a Democratic Society for Human Rights and Unification on the Korean Peninsula (Hanbyun) against the National Assembly and the Democratic Party, ruling that 'not nominating foundation directors is illegal.'

An official from the Ministry of Unification said, "To ensure the proper implementation of the North Korean Human Rights Act, we will communicate more closely with the National Assembly in the future so that the North Korean Human Rights Foundation and the Advisory Committee for the Promotion of North Korean Human Rights can be launched as soon as possible."