Press conference urging the establishment of the North Korean Human Rights Foundation / Photo = The Korea Institute for North Korean Human Rights
(SEOUL = Freedom Chosun) A press conference urging the prompt establishment of the North Korean Human Rights Foundation was held at the National Assembly’s briefing room on Tuesday morning, led by Representative Kim Gi-hyeon of the ruling People Power Party and representatives from major North Korean human rights organizations.
The event marked the 10th anniversary of the Tuesday rallies that began on October 14, 2014, to demand the passage of the North Korean Human Rights Act. Participants decried what they called “nine years of criminal neglect” and warned against allowing the law to “fade into irrelevance.”
“The Law Exists, but the Foundation Does Not”
Speakers noted that although the North Korean Human Rights Act was enacted on March 3, 2016, and took effect on September 4 of the same year, the law’s core institution — the North Korean Human Rights Foundation — has yet to be established, rendering the statute “effectively toothless.”
They blamed the main opposition Democratic Party and the Speaker of the National Assembly for obstructing the appointment of board members, calling the prolonged delay “a blatant dereliction of duty.”
Representative Kim Gi-hyeon criticized the legislature sharply, saying, “For the National Assembly to block the very law it enacted is a violation of constitutional order and an assault on the rule of law. The court has already ruled the Speaker’s refusal illegal, yet this defiance persists — an affront to democracy itself.”
“Human Rights in North Korea Are Deteriorating - Action Cannot Wait”
Participants warned that the Kim Jong Un regime continues to commit crimes against humanity against its own citizens and has further compounded its violations by supplying weapons and troops to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, effectively becoming an accomplice to war crimes.
They argued that North Korea, aligned with China and Russia, now forms an “axis of authoritarianism” threatening South Korea with nuclear weapons. “Silence from Seoul in the face of such aggression,” they said, “represents both a retreat from the global human rights coalition and a betrayal of the North Korean people.”
The groups stressed that amid waning U.S. support, many North Korean human rights NGOs face existential crises. “It is now the duty of the South Korean government — and the yet-unrealized North Korean Human Rights Foundation — to fill that void and wipe away the tears of our brethren in the North,” they said.
“Democratic Party and Assembly Speaker Must Act Immediately”
The press conference was attended by leaders from six civic organizations, including the Korea Institute for North Korean Human Rights (Chairman Kim Tae-hoon), Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea (President Lee Jae-won), Citizens for the Proper Implementation of the North Korean Human Rights Act and Unification (Representative Oh Bong-seok), Korean Ethnic Solidarity for Unification (Representative Jang Se-yul), Coalition of North Korean Human Rights Organizations (Representative Heo Gwang-il), and the Pan-Pacific Cultural Research Institute (Chairman Kim Il-joo).
In a joint statement, the participants demanded that National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik and the Democratic Party “immediately initiate the establishment of the Foundation,” warning that “continued refusal will result in legal action for dereliction of duty.”
They further criticized the current administration’s North Korea and human rights policy, asking pointedly, “Are they so afraid of Kim Jong Un?” and condemning what they described as “acts of subservience to dictatorship that trample on the North Korean people’s freedom and dignity.”
Concluding the event, participants appealed to the public to join efforts to revitalize the North Korean Human Rights Act, declaring, “Peace without human rights is an illusion. The restoration of freedom and human dignity for the North Korean people is the true beginning of peace on the Korean Peninsula.”