NK HUMAN RIGHTS PROMINENT IN ROKG ACTION PLAN

UNCLAS SEOUL 001997 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREF PREL KS KN SUBJECT: NK HUMAN RIGHTS PROMINENT IN ROKG ACTION PLAN -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) The ROKG on May 22 unveiled its five-year National Action Plan for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. The 250-page report, which was compiled by the Ministry of Justice, touched on issues surrounding North Korean defectors in South Korea and efforts to improve human rights in the DPRK. While some observers dismiss the Plan as a rhetorical exercise, others see it as a significant blueprint for future ROKG administrations. END SUMMARY. -------------- THE NATIONAL ACTION PLAN -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The ROKG began drafting the 2007-2011 National Action Plan (NAP) on Human Rights following the April 2001 meeting of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Committee recommended that the ROKG compile the NAP in compliance with the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action," adopted at the 1993 UN World Conference on Human Rights. While the Ministry of Justice coordinated with almost thirty ROKG agencies and organizations, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) was charged with drafting the initial version. According to MOJ Human Rights Policy Division Director Lee Hyun-joo, the final report was more expansive on North Korea issues than proposed in the initial draft. Lee told us on June 28 that the NHRC opposed including a section on North Korean human rights because it believed that ROK jurisdiction over human rights ended at the DMZ. During the course of inter-agency debate, however, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) argued strongly that the ROKG could no longer remain silent in the international community. Lee said that the MOJ decided to adopt the MOFAT recommendation when similar positions were voiced by experts in two rounds of public hearings. ¶3. (SBU) The ROKG plans to submit a summary of the NAP to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. In addition, MOJ's Human Rights Policy Division will publish yearly reports evaluating the ROKG's compliance with the report. -------------- RESETTLEMENT ASSISTANCE -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The NAP highlighted many measures already contained in the 1997 North Korean Defectors Protection and Resettlement Support Act. For example, according to the February 2007 amendment to the Act, North Korean resettlers would be able to divorce spouses who are still in North Korea. They would also be entitled to employment subsidies for an extended period of time and be eligible for additional vocational training, employment counseling and residential assistance. According to the Support Act, as highlighted by the NAP, the ROKG will provide North Korean resettlers with the incentive to stay in one job by increasing the amount of employment subsidies as follows: first-year employees will receive $4,500 rather than $2,000; second-year employees will receive $5,000 rather than $3,000; and third-year employees will receive $5,500 rather than $4,000. ¶5. (SBU) The ROKG will also ease the requirements for companies that hire North Korean resettlers to be designated as government priority procurement companies; increase the expertise of job employment officers; expand employment opportunities by having regular job fairs. ¶6. (SBU) In addition, the NAP calls for enhancing educational programs for North Korean teenagers by developing a teachers' manual; expanding after-school classes for North Korean students; and, perhaps, designating an education officer for North Korean teenagers in concentrated residential areas. Further, starting from 2007, there will be regularized human rights education programs for Hanawon officials. Starting from 2008, there will be human rights education programs for welfare, employment and residence protection officers. Overall there will be an expansion of human rights education programs to other ministries that work on resettlement programs for North Korean defectors. -------------- -------------- EXPANDING HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION -------------- -------------- ¶7. (SBU) The Plan reiterates current principles governing humanitarian cooperation projects. Accordingly, the ROKG will maintain the position that humanitarian assistance to the DPRK should continue considering the humanitarian situation in the North. The ROKG will provide rice and fertilizer assistance based on the North's implementation of the February 13 agreement. With respect to NGO humanitarian assistance projects, the ROKG will respect the freedom of groups to choose assistance projects, but encourages groups to focus on vulnerable groups, including women and children. The government will also expand its support to NGOs from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund in the form of matching funds. ¶8. (SBU) With regard to human rights, the NAP calls on the ROKG to increase diplomatic activities at the UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council. Specifically, it would promote international interest in North Koreans' right to life; call for more international humanitarian assistance and human rights-related technical cooperation projects with the DPRK; call for dialogue and cooperation between the DPRK and the international community; and support the activities of the UN Special Rapporteur for North Korea Human Rights. This could include supporting bilateral or multilateral cooperation with the U.S., Japan and European Union on North Korean human rights; supporting activities of domestic and international North Korean human rights NGOs; and continuing efforts to resettle North Korean defectors and resolve the separated family and POW issues. ¶9. (SBU) There is a split among the NGO community over the significance of the NAP. Yoon Yeo-sang, President of NKDatabase dismissed the document as purely political. "Just words," he said. Others, such as Citizens' Alliance for North Korea Human Rights Chairman Benjamin Yoon, saw more meaning. Yoon said that the report had important symbolic significance and could form an action plan for future ROK administrations. He also pointed out that the final version was more expansive on North Korean human rights than the version recommended by the National Human Rights Commission. He said that reflected a growing recognition within government circles that the ROKG should be more proactive on human rights. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶10. (SBU) The significance of the NAP is not in the substance -- the report in fact breaks little new ground in actual policy on human rights and resettlement assistance. However, the fact that North Korean human rights was included at all reflects growing unease within the ROKG over its historic reticence and will make the Human Rights Commission's silence -- based on jurisdictional arguments rejected through the ROKG interagency process -- harder to maintain. VERSHBOW