Defectors and North Korean Human Rights NGOs Hold Press Conference in Front of the Blue House

Press Release

Submission of a Formal Petition to Include the North Korean Human Rights Issue as an Agenda in the Coming South-North Summit Talk

Host:  Defectors and about 30 other North Korean Human Rights NGOs including Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea (LHUK, Rep. Kim Tae-hoon)

Date:  11 a.m, March 22, 2018

Venue:  At the water fountain in front of the Blue House

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1. According to a high level official at the Korean Presidential Office, the preparation committee for the South-North Summit Talk which is to be held around the end of April, will mainly focus on ‘denuclearization and efforts for a peace treaty in the Korean peninsular’ as the most important and ontic issues.

2. However, we firmly believe that the basic Human Rights should be had by all mankind as the most important and universal value, and any resolution of the North Korean nuclear crisis cannot be accomplished if and as long as the Human Rights of the North Korean residents are ignored and put down. The North Korean nuclear crisis is, in fact, due to the forced silence imposed on the North Korean people by the Supreme Leader who decided to pour the money and resources in developing the nuclear weapons and missiles, which should have been used for the welfare of the North Korean people. Even based on the domestic statute titled “North Korean Human Rights Law” the administration is required to engage with North Korea to discuss important issues to the goal of improving the North Korean Human Rights situation.

3. Therefore, LHUK, together with NGOs for North Korean Human Rights, North Korean defectors in the south and other patriotic citizens formally submitted a written petition to the Blue House based on the Korean Constitution Article 26, The Petition Law and the North Korean Human Rights Law to include the issue of the North Korean Human Rights as an agenda at the coming South-North summit meeting and we also filed a request to meet with Mr. Yim Jong Seok, who is the chief of the presidential staff, as well as the chair person of the preparatory committee for the summit talk, and we also digitally filed a petition with the relevant website of the presidential office.

4. The details of the proposed agenda related to the North Korean Human Rights are as follows:

(1) Immediate release of three missionaries including Kim Jung Wook,and 3 defectors detained in North Korea, including Ko Hyun Chul.
(2) Dismantlement of the Political Prison Camps.
(3) Stop penalizing N.Koreans repatriated by force.
(4) Information on the Prisoners of War and returning them to South.
(5) Information of the abductees during the Korean war and after the war,’
(6) To allow travel by the family members who are separated against their will before or during the Korean war.

2018. 3. 22.

Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea(LHUK)
Rep. Kim Tae Hoon

Secretary General:
Lawyer Woo In Sik
Phone : 02-599-4434
Web : www.hanbyun.or.kr