By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter


South Korea does not exclude the possibility that a resolution on North Korea’s human rights situation could be introduced to the U.N. General Assembly in the coming weeks, a Seoul official said Thursday.

Such a resolution, the first of its kind if adopted by a General Assembly committee, is expected to draw strong resistance from the Pyongyang regime.

Seoul has kept a low profile on the issue to promote inter-Korean relations. South Korean delegations used to abstain from voting, as they did in April of this year at the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations.

This maneuver has drawn criticism from human rights activists, especially those in the U.S. Washington recently appointed a special envoy to reform North Korea’s human rights situation and hosted large-scale campaigns on the issue.

Under this renewed circumstance, Seoul predicts that a resolution calling for improvements in North Koreans’ quality of life could possibly be adopted.

``We do not exclude the possibility that the General Assembly’s third committee may adopt a resolution on the North’s human rights this time,’’ the official told The Korea Times on condition of anonymity.

The third committee addresses social, humanitarian and cultural issues.

The official said the European Union is showing strong interest in improving North Korea’s human rights record. He also indicated that U.S. President George W. Bush’s appointment of Jay Lefkowitz as the special envoy in August could possibly affect the committee’s decision-making process.

He predicted that the U.S. will not likely initiate the resolution because it could send the wrong signal that Washington hopes to use the human rights situation as a political tool to pressure North Korea.

``The E.U. has an image of impartiality,’’ the official said. ``So if the resolution is adopted by the third committee, it would be initiated by the E.U., not the U.S.’’

He made clear that the General Assembly’s third committee has not yet discussed the issue and that it has not been an official item of agenda up until now.

But the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, Vitit Muntarbhorn, already submitted his report on Monday to the committee, which is likely to debate the issue and decide whether to pass a resolution during its session from Oct. 3 to Nov. 23.

The North’s human rights issue has never been introduced to the General Assembly in the form of a resolution.

In South Korea, it has resurfaced as a hot issue recently. During a parliamentary audit of the National Human Rights Commission, lawmakers grilled its members on human rights in North Korea, some claiming the commission has a weak position on the issue.

The commission promised to come up with measures to protect the human rights of North Koreans within this year, but it will likely be considered only a political declaration because the commission is legally restricted from extending a helping hand to North Koreans.

Article 4 of the National Human Rights Commission Act, which came into effect in 2001, says that the act ``shall apply to all citizens of the Republic of Korea and all foreigners residing therein.’’

Muntarbhorn was appointed special rapporteur by the Commission on Human Rights in July 2004. The mandate of the special rapporteur was extended for one year by a resolution and his present report is submitted in accordance with that resolution.

His duty is to establish direct contact with the government and the people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the official name of North Korea, and to investigate and report on the human rights situation there.

Despite his efforts to seek access into North Korea, he has not yet been ``invited’’ into the country and the government has not cooperated with his mandate, Muntarbhorn said in his report.

im@koreatimes.co.kr