Welcoming Remarks by H.E. Cho Tae-yul
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea
International Forum on North Korean Human Rights
30 May, 2024

Very good morning to you all.

Mr. Marzuki Darusman,
Ambassador Lee Shin-wha,
Dr. Lee Jung-Hoon,
Excellencies, Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me start by warmly welcoming every one of you to the International Forum on North Korean Human Rights organized by the Foreign Ministry.

We are gathered here today to commemorate the 10th anniversary of a landmark event : the release of the UN Commission of Inquiry’s Report on Human Rights in North Korea.

The report was truly groundbreaking.
It provided exhaustive documentation on the gross and systematic human rights violations taking place in North Korea.
Equally significant, the report also catalyzed far-reaching international efforts to seriously address the problem, including through discussions on accountability.

I wish to acknowledge with great respect one of the authors of the COI report who is present here today.

Mr. Marzuki Darusman, thank you for your tireless pursuit of the truth both as a former member of the COI and as a former Special Rapporteur on North Korean Human Rights.

To this day, I have vivid recollections of the COI’s publication and its aftermath.

I attended the UN Human Rights Council meeting as Vice Foreign Minister in early 2015, about a year after the COI report’s release.
The North Korean Foreign Minister at the time, Ri Su-yong, was also there and made a blistering critique of the COI’s report.
What really struck me at the time was less his lengthy diatribe. It was more the fact that this was the first-ever appearance of a North Korean foreign minister at the Human Rights Council.

The unprecedented participation of a North Korean foreign minister actually betrayed the degree to which their regime felt pressured by the reverberating effects of the report.

Much to our dismay, the plight of the North Korean people continues unabated. And Pyongyang’s denial of its human rights abuses remains no less categorical.

Not long ago, media outlets showed a footage of two teenagers being sentenced to 12 years of forced labor. The alleged crime was watching and disseminating K-Dramas.
Public executions of people for distributing K-Dramas and movies have been corroborated by testimonies from North Korean defectors.
Such punishments speak to the enormous lengths to which the regime will go to block access to information from the South.

For decades, Pyongyang’s human rights encroachments have also extended beyond North Korea. Hundreds of South Koreans remain abducted or wrongfully detained in North Korea. Prisoners of the Korean War have also yet to return to their beloved families.
Japanese citizens have also been snatched away from their own hometowns.

North Korea must immediately return all abductees, detainees and prisoners of war to their families.

In addition, no discussion on North Korea’s human rights would be complete without addressing the sufferings of North Korean defectors.

Those who left North Korea have done so to escape repression, to seek freedom and a better life. The escapees who are sent back against their will have been subject to torture and other cruel treatment.

This is why reports about defectors being forcibly repatriated are deeply troubling. North Korean defectors must be allowed to reach their desired destinations safely and expeditiously.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Yoon Suk Yeol administration is committed to putting values and principles at the center of our foreign policy.

Nowhere is this more manifest than in our approach to North Korea’s human rights situation.

We will speak out whenever and where-ever we can whether on the multilateral stage or in bilateral settings.

Whether in New York, Geneva or elsewhere, the Korean Government is leveraging every opportunity to put the spotlight on this issue.

It was after the release of the COI report that the UN Security Council formally took up North Korea’s human rights for the first time in 2014.

This being the 10th anniversary of the COI report, it is only right that the Security Council should do so again, building on the Council’s Open Briefing meeting last August. As a non-permanent member this year and next, we will strive to ensure that the Council rises to the occasion, especially during Korea’s presidency next month.

The upcoming Universal Periodic Review of North Korea in November offers another opportunity to work with the international community towards meaningful outcomes.

Korea is equally vocal in bilateral talks with the relevant countries. The meeting between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Premier Li Qiang last Sunday as well as my meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi during my visit to Beijing offer conspicuous examples.

We are also working with like-minded nations and civil society organizations to revitalize the discourse on North Korean human rights.

Raising international awareness about the issue, particularly among the Global South, is no less critical if we are to rally international opinion.
Dr. Lee Shin-wha, our Ambassador for International Cooperation on North Korean Human Rights, recently visited Argentina and Mexico to do just that.

I wish to take a moment to thank Ambassador Lee for her tireless service. For the past two years, she has worked selflessly to ensure that the deplorable state of human rights in North Korea does not become a “forgotten crisis.”

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The improvement of human rights is integral to peace. Sustainable peace on the Korean Peninsula cannot be achieved by addressing North Korea’s security threat alone.

Unless the overall human rights situation improves, any attempt to secure lasting peace is bound to be brittle.

This is because North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats and its systematic human rights abuses are two sides of the same coin.

The diversion of scarce resources in a failing economy to the development of weapons of mass destruction inevitably comes at the expense of people’s livelihoods.

North Korean workers overseas are prime examples. Forced to work for over 14 hours a day, these laborers surrender most of their earnings to support the regime’s weapons development.

This is why the UN Security Council obligates all countries to repatriate North Korean income earners in the same resolution that bans its nuclear and missile programs.

The Yoon Suk Yeol administration firmly believes that the true path to ensuring freedom and upholding human rights in North Korea lies in the reunification of the Korean Peninsula.

Although North Korea has disavowed the single nationhood of the two Koreas, we will in any event be steadfast in moving towards a unified future -- a future that is anchored in freedom and human rights.

As we do so, the experience, role and insights of defectors will be crucial.
In many ways, North Korean defectors are “a prelude to reunification(먼저 온 통일).”

The voices of youths across the Peninsula will also be essential. For not only will their lives be heavily impacted by reunification, they are also key agents of change that will shape the future.

It is with this in mind that we organized a special session today on empowering the voices of youth.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me wrap up by repeating something I said at the Human Rights Council meeting back in 2015. In response to the North Korean Foreign Minister’s tirade, I stated that (and I quote) “one cannot veil the sky with the palm of a hand.”

In the same vein, I hope today’s forum showcases how North Korea’s denial of human rights abuses is an exercise in futility. I also hope it will further advance discussions on how to achieve accountability and drive change in North Korea’s behavior.

Once again, I thank everyone for being here with us and express my best wishes for a successful forum.

Thank you very much.