South Korea's new envoy for North Korean rights vows efforts for 'human security'

Lee Shin-wha, South Korea's new envoy for North Korean human rights, talks with Foreign Minister Park Jin at the foreign ministry in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap

South Korea's new envoy for North Korean human rights emphasized her commitment Thursday to enhancing "human security" in the reclusive country, as she received her appointment certificate from Foreign Minister Park Jin.

Lee Shin-wha, political science professor at Korea University, filled the position that had been vacant for years since the inaugural ambassador, Lee Jung-hoon, left office in September 2017.

Her appointment came as the South has apparently shifted to a more proactive stance in handling the North Korean human rights issue under the conservative Yoon Suk-yeol administration in a policy shift from the preceding liberal Moon Jae-in administration.

"Mentioning the human rights issue may be a sensitive issue for the North Korean regime, but for its people, the issue is a matter of life or death," she said in a meeting with reporters. "I believe (my role) is to call on the North Korean regime to (ensure) not regime security but human security."

The ambassador also commented on the hot-button issue of the forced repatriation of two North Korean fishermen in 2019.

"Forcibly repatriating them without due procedures is a breach of both international and domestic laws," she said." This issue should be viewed from the perspective of the international principle of non-refoulement and the enforcement of the (domestic) North Korean human rights act."

She also pointed out, "A photo is worth a hundred or a thousand words," in an apparent reference to the photo unveiled by Seoul's unification ministry of the North Korean fishermen being dragged into the North against their will.

The post on the North's rights was created in 2016 following the enactment of the North Korean Human Rights Act. (Yonhap)