A group of human rights experts from around the world gathered in Seoul on Monday for a three-day forum to discuss the human rights conditions in North Korea. Organized by several colleges and civic groups in South Korea, the 6th International Conference on North Korean Human Rights and Refugees is aimed at shedding light on the human rights abuse prevalent in the communist state. (14-FEB-05)

This article derives from a press release issued by the South Korean news agency Yonhap. It has been edited for republication here.

The organizers of the annual meeting include the Citizen?s Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, the Korean Society for Human Rights Law and the Sogang University Graduate School of International Studies.  “We first convened here in Seoul five years ago and dedicated ourselves to two goals: to break the silence that then surrounded the human rights catastrophe in North Korea, and to build an international movement of concern for the oppressed and abandoned people of that despotic country,” Carl Gershman, president of the US National Endowment for Democracy, said in his welcoming address. He added that a refusal to defend the human rights of North Koreans is not likely to produce fertile soil for the growth of trust between the peoples of the two Koreas.

A new phase
Among other participants are Jack Rendler, chairman of the US Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, and Suzanne Scholte, president of Defence Forum Foundation. They will review a range of North Korean human rights issues from child abuse to discrimination against women, organizers said. “The North Korean human rights issue entered a new phase with the enactment of the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 by the Bush administration,” said Kim Young-ja, director-general of the Citizen?s Alliance for North Korean Human Rights.

Unanimous decision to make aid conditional to human rights progress
In October, both houses of Congress unanimously passed the legislation that makes it easier for Washington to assist North Korean defectors by increasing related funding. It also links any future aid to Pyongyang to progress in addressing human rights concerns. Kim added that the seminar would touch on the significance and effect of the legislation and ways to resolve the issue of North Korean refugees fleeing the regime. The forum will end on Wednesday with the adoption of a resolution by participants, organizers said.