By Andy Jackson
No sooner did President Roh Moo-hyun return from his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il than he was confronted by the site of protestors in the street demanding that the brutal repression of dissidents stop at once.
Among the front ranks of the protesters were National Assemblymen Roh Hoe-chan of the Democratic Labor Party and independent Rep. Im Jong-in (formerly of the Uri Party).
Civic groups, including the Korean Federation of Trade Unions, held a press conference in support of the protesters' message. Other civic groups issued a statement that chastised the Roh administration, ``which has sought only economic trade'' while ignoring the ``people's demands for democratization.''
Fortunately for Roh, they were protesting against repression in Myanmar, not North Korea.
Rep. Im introduced legislation in the National Assembly last week supporting democracy in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Among other things, it called for the release of Myanmarese political prisoners and for the Korean government to protest the Myanmarese government's repression of protesters.
Im's resolution also calls on the Korean government to join other governments in collective action to force the junta currently ruling Myanmar out of power and create a democratic government in its place.
Ironically, Im and his allies have been at the forefront of fighting against human rights standards in dealings with North Korea.
Im, in his resolution supporting democracy in Myanmar, noted that the ruling junta lives well while ignoring the suffering of ordinary Burmese. He further said that the poverty of the Myanmarese people can be solved only once the corrupt junta is removed from power.
Im sings a different tune regarding the rights of his fellow Koreans who happen to live under the Kim Jong-il regime. He has said on his homepage that ``the quickest way to improve North Korean human rights is to vitalize North-South Korean economic cooperation.''
Im and his allies have worked vigorously at every turn to defend the Kim Jong-il regime and keep human rights for North Koreas on the backburner.
During Assembly audits last year, Im adamantly argued that the National Human Rights Commission of Korea has no standing to even investigate or discuss human rights violations in North Korea (as reported in the Pressian News Service via the Marmot's Hole blog), despite the fact that North Korean territory is constitutionally within the jurisdiction of the Republic of Korean government.
Im went on to give another reason why the commission does not need to worry about the rights of North Koreans; ``Do North Koreans get social security? Do they get voting rights? The National Human Rights Commission doesn't have to do anything regarding North Korean human rights."
In other words and by Im's logic, the commission does not need to worry about violations of the rights of North Koreans because North Koreans have no rights to violate.
While Im and his allies' concern for the plight of the Burmese people is certainly laudable, it makes their comparative lack of concern for the plight of the North Korean people all the more curious.
If they are ignorant of the ongoing human rights catastrophe going on north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), it is a willful ignorance.
While Pyongyang has prevented the rest of the world from knowing much of what is going on in North Korea, the information that has leaked out is grim.
Amnesty International stated in its 2007 annual report on North Korea that ``Any person who expressed an opinion contrary to the position of the ruling Korean Workers' Party reportedly faced severe punishment and so did their families in many cases,'' and, ``People involved in public and private religious activities faced imprisonment, torture and execution.''
That is only a small sample of human rights violations noted in the Amnesty report.
The North Korean system also hampers the delivery of food aid to North Koreans. Human Rights Watch reported on October 9 that few North Koreans get access to food from South Korea due to corruption and lack of proper monitoring.
It takes a determined (or at least ideologically rigid) mind to not be concerned with the plight of the people to our north.
In Im's case, that lack of concern is part of a consistent pattern of behavior that can at best be described as Pyongyang-friendly.
In addition to his stand against human rights efforts for North Koreans, he has supported Pyongyang against charges of counterfeiting and has worked to abolish the National Intelligence Services' ability to investigate suspected North Korean spy cases.
Perhaps, deep in his heart, Im believes that the Kim Jong-il regime is really not so bad.
Andy Jackson teaches American government in the Lakeland College bridge program at Ansan College, Gyeonggi Province. He can be reached at andyinrok@lycos.com