South Korea Government To Abstain From Human Rights Vote
The human rights amnesia for the South Korean government continues:
South Korea will likely abstain on a U.N. resolution to condemn North Korea for human rights abuses, a government official said, prompting an opposition politician to accuse Seoul of harbouring double standards.
The European Union is aiming to bring to a vote later this month at the U.N. General Assembly, a measure that will chastise North Korea for suspected rights abuses. No date has been set for the vote.
Human rights group charge North Korea with maintaining networks of prison camps, using public executions to intimidate the masses and punishing criminals’ relatives, who are held to be guilty by association.
South Korea has abstained from similar measures brought before U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.
President Roh Moo-hyun is hipocrite number one in Korea in regards to human rights in North Korea:
President Roh Moo-hyun was a human rights lawyer and the prime minister and health minister were jailed fighting for human rights under authoritarian governments a generation ago.
I love this quote here from a GNP politican opposed to President Roh’s stance:
Kim Moon-soo, a member of parliament for the main opposition Grand National Party, has criticised the Roh administration for what he sees as a failure to address North Korean human rights.
“Of course we must continue to send aid. But saying that North Koreans should only have bread and no freedom is an insult to our democracy, which we worked so hard to achieve,” Kim said.
Obviously the South Korean government is not working to achieve democracy in North Korea. They are working to achieve appeasement.
