(LEAD) Seoul unification ministry hosts int'l forum on N. Korea's human rights

▲ Participants at the 2022 International Dialogue on North Korean Human Rights hosted by the Seoul unification ministry pose for photos at its venue hotel in Seoul on Dec. 14, 2022. (Yonhap)

▲ Unification Minister Kwon Young-se delivers an opening speech at the 2022 International Dialogue on North Korean Human Rights at a Seoul hotel on Dec. 14, 2022. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) NK human rights-forum

(LEAD) Seoul unification ministry hosts int'l forum on N. Korea's human rights

(ATTN: UPDATES with former U.S. officials' comments in last paras; ADDS photo)

By Chang Dong-woo

SEOUL, Dec. 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's unification ministry on Wednesday held an annual international forum on North Korea's human rights situations in an effort to raise public awareness about the problem.

The 2022 International Dialogue on North Korean Human Rights opened at a hotel in Seoul, under the theme of major pending issues and future tasks in regard to the North's human rights records. It was moderated by Lee Shin-hwa, South Korea's envoy for the North's human rights.

In his opening remarks, Unification Minister Kwon Young-se, Seoul's top point man on Pyongyang, stressed, "Improving the human rights (situations) in North Korea is the most urgent historical task given to us."

He added it is a duty to be rightfully carried out by the South for being of "one blood" and a "partner in a unified future" with the North.

Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised the Yoon Suk-yeol administration for placing importance on the North Korean human rights issue.

He proposed that the U.N. Security Council hold a public debate session on the matter.

The forum, which has been held every year since 2017, brought together experts from home and abroad, including Robert King, a former U.S. special envoy for North Korea's human rights, and Victor Cha, Korea chair and senior vice president of the Center for Strategic International Studies. King and Cha joined the event via video links.

King expressed his "regret" that the U.S. currently does not have a special envoy for North Korean human rights and added the international community needs to continue to press the regime in order for it to realize "what it isn't doing in terms of moving forward on human rights."

Cha offered insights into scenarios in which pushing for human rights reform could help denuclearization negotiations. He also voiced hope for the U.S. and South Korea to "personalize" the issue of China's alleged forced repatriation of North Korean defectors "by trying to put names and faces to (repatriated) individuals around which you can build a cause."

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