It's ironic to think that Seoul has provided a reason for Washington and Pyongyang to unite in one voice in international stages.
The stage was in Geneva Wednesday, when the U.N. Human Rights Council held their annual Universal Periodic Review, and the target was South Korea's anti-Communist law.
For a long time North Korea has criticized the National Security Law that antagonizes Pyongyang as Seoul's No. 1 enemy. However, it was unusual ― and unprecedented ― for the United States to make a call for its amendment, officially and internationally, indicating how anachronistic and unrealistic the time-old law is.
Needless to say, the biggest problem of the law is it outrageously limits the people's right of thought, conscience and expression. While reflecting the unchanged reality of national division, the law, basically a product of Cold War confrontation, has long outlived its realistic efficacy both because Seoul has won over Pyongyang in the competition of economy and ideology and because the two Koreas are moving toward rapprochement.
This law, for instance, calls for punishing people who harbor and express pro-North Korean views and thoughts, such as the ``juche (self-reliance) philosophy" of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung. How many Koreans, including young students, will turn themselves into its followers in this post-Cold War world in which capitalism won a complete victory over socialism and at a time when their brethren in the North have to worry about their next meal? Even if there were some ideological converts, would they pose any threat to this country?
Since a few decades ago, the law has been used as little more than a tool for general-turned-presidents to scare away possible challengers to their dictatorship.
The time has long past for Korea to amend ― if not immediately abolish - the law, particularly considering the nation's status as one of the world's major economies and its position as an executive member of the U.N. human rights body.
It was all the more problematic in this regard that Seoul became the target of criticism not only in its outdated national security system but also in diverse areas of human rights, ranging from its discrimination by gender, nationality and job status to capital punishment, conscientious objectors, family violence, migrant workers and even residential registration system.
The prospects, however, appear not so bright under the Lee Myung-bak administration, in which police are moving to restrict assemblies and demonstrations depending on their purposes and proceedings as well as to impose fines on people who refuse on-the-street demands for showing their IDs.
Still one may as well remain optimistic that the Lee government would move to make some improvement in this area, including the amendment of this controversial law, as its two keywords are ``global standards" and ``airtight alliance with the United States."