Amnesty International’s campaign for prisoners of conscience began in 1967 when North Korean authorities detained Ali Lameda and Jacques Sedillot, who were invited to publish international promotional contents for the North. Since 1979, the U.S. State Department incorporated the North Korean human rights situation in its annual national report. Along with an increase in the number of North Korean defectors in the mid-1990s, human rights violations in North Korea emerged as a topic of international debate. Such discourse, including issues such as starvation and forced repatriation of North Korean defectors, was further prompted by the food crisis. It also stimulated the international community to collect information on the humanitarian crisis.

This article analyzes how bilateral sanctions have reflected international concerns over North Korea’s human rights violations. Furthermore, it also touches upon any negative side-effects of the sanctions regime on the human rights situation. The United Nations (UN) has adopted resolutions on North Korea’s human rights problem since 2003. Following the appointment of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in North Korea in 2004, the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly have expressed concerns about the status of human rights in North Korea and called for improvement every year. The Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in DPRK was established in 2013 after the international community reached a consensus over the gravity of human rights infringements in North Korea and also noted that they are widespread and systemic, notwithstanding the absence of an armed conflict. In 2014, the panel concluded that the North Korean leadership may be subject to prosecution for committing crimes against humanity on the grounds of Pyongyang’s policies. Accordingly, the UN established the accountability mechanism for the criminal punishment of perpetrators of North Korea.

Furthermore, the UN Security Council has also engaged in the North Korean human rights issue on the basis that human rights breaches are as much a threat to peace as nuclear proliferation. While the council imposes sanctions on Pyongyang, provided that its weapons and nuclear development thwart prospects of peace on the peninsula, respective sanctions resolutions do not explicitly contain “human rights.” Rather, the resolutions state that the UN’s concerns are based on “humanitarian values” and the “need to respect the welfare, dignity, and rights of the people.”

The South Korean government, along with some civil organizations, has played a major role in stressing the severity of the North’s human rights situation to the international community. Following the enactment of the U.S. North Korean Human Rights Act in 2004, the Korean National Assembly also strived to enact its own North Korean Human Rights Act. Upon a consensus between the ruling and opposition party in 2016, the National Assembly enacted the act in 2016. Nevertheless, the North Korean human rights agenda remains a politicized issue in South Korea. In this regard, this article covers the structure and controversy over conflicts pertaining to human rights in North Korea such as the debate between “universality vs. specificity,” “civil and political rights vs. social and economic rights,” and “right to peace and right to development” in South Korea.

Pyongyang’s strong dissent over the international community’s concerns on its human rights situation, based on its claim that such perspectives are derived from U.S. hostile policies against the regime, prompted political conflict. Debate revolved around whether efforts to promote North Korean human rights stipulated in the North Korean Human Rights Act can coexist with the development of inter-Korean relations and the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula.

In this respect, the article outlines tasks ahead and provides suggestions for North Korean human rights policy from the perspective that an integrated approach to human rights and peace is necessary and also possible. The South Korean government is obligated to promote North Korean human rights as both a domestic and international actor. As an international actor, it should coordinate the intervention of the international community on the basis of the international human rights regime in enforcing North Korean authorities to fulfill their obligations. As a domestic actor, it should manage the differences in perspectives on North Korean human rights to prevent conflict within the country. The international community, led by the UN’s efforts, has increasingly put pressure on North Korean perpetrators of human rights violations and hold them accountable. However, for the South Korean government that must also navigate through inter-Korean issues such as separated families, abductees, and prisoners of war, the accountability of North Korean top leaders remains a daunting task. Therefore, Seoul should prevent the North Korean human rights agenda from instigating political slander and create an environment that enables constructive dialogue and cooperation.

In order for South Korea to promote North Korean human rights, I propose the following four measures: the full implementation of the North Korean Human Rights Act, inter-Korean cooperation for humanitarian issues, expanding North Korea’s participation in the human rights agenda, and strengthening the human rights capacity of the Korean government.

First, institutional measures such as the launch of the North Korean Human Rights Foundation and the appointment of a Special Ambassador for North Korean Human Rights did not take place due to ideological conflicts between the conservative and liberal ends of the political spectrum, despite the enactment of the North Korean Human Rights Act. Center for North Korean Human Rights Records at the Ministry of Unification has conducted in-depth interviews with North Korean defectors on North Korean human rights. Considering the necessity for the full implementation of the North Korean Human Rights Act, the South Korean government should reach a consensus on promoting North Korean human rights in parallel with the development of inter-Korean relations and a peace settlement on the Korean Peninsula. North Korean human rights records and information should be managed at the government level and reflected in practical human rights improvement policies.

Second, the government should strengthen efforts to institutionalize inter-Korean cooperation on humanitarian issues, such as the separated family issues. In this process, it is necessary to simultaneously update the status of family members for those separated and/or living abroad such as the U.S. and pursue family reunions.

Third, it is key to encourage North Korean authorities to participate in international human rights mechanisms, considering that North Korea has been accepting of recommendations offered at Universal Periodic Review. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals include a number of human rights-related issues; in particular, the ten implementation indicators of Goal 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions) specify matters pertaining to human rights. Taking into account that the North Korea has actively participated in Universal Periodic Reviews and Sustainable Development Goals, it is important to stimulate North Korea’s voluntary efforts.

Lastly, South Korea should build its human rights capacity as a country embracing universal human rights. Especially, it should prevent the North Korean human rights issue from being subject to excessive polarization. It is important to foster an environment in which the political leadership can take a faithful approach to human rights values rather than utilize the agenda as a tool.■

■ Keum Soon Lee is a Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU). Since 1996, she has participated in the publication of KINU’s White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea. From 2015 to 2017, she served as assistant minister for Unification Education at the Unification Ministry; from 2018 to 2020, she served as president of the Center for North Korean Human Rights Records at the Ministry of Unification.

■ Typeset by Seung Yeon Lee, Research Associate
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