Congratulatory Remarks by H.E. Park Jin

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Republic of Korea

21 April, 2023 at the North Korean Human Rights Event

Sponsored by the CSIS and supported by MOFA

Dr. John Hamre,

Ambassador Cho Hyundong,

Ambassador Lee Shin-wha,

Deputy Assistant Secretary Jung Pak,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my great pleasure to address you

at this meaningful event.

This year marks the 10^th anniversary of the establishment

of the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI)

on the North Korean human rights situation.

Regrettably, even after a decade,

there are no signs of improvement.

The North Korean people are still suffering from

systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations.

On top of that, amidst

the prolonged COVID-19 border closures,

natural disasters and food shortages,

the humanitarian situation in North Korea is deteriorating further.

Recently, there have been alarming reports

that starvation is rampant and that people are even dying of hunger

in many parts of North Korea.

The North Korean people are not only

suffering from shortages of food.

I believe we would all agree that

human beings cannot live on food for the body alone.

Every one of us has the right to freedom of thought,

the food that nurtures minds

and makes one grow into something yet bigger than oneself.

Lamentably, the North Korean people are

far from enjoying this fundamental freedom.

On the contrary, the North Korean regime is

tightening the ideological grip on its people.

In recent years, it has adopted a series of laws such as

“Reactionary Ideology and Culture Rejection Act” and

“Pyongyang Cultural Language Protection Act.”

These laws strictly forbid contact with

and proliferation of outside information.  

Moreover, the Kim regime is

venturing onto an ever more dangerous path of WMD development,

threatening the peace and security of the region and beyond.

Needless to say,

this puts its own people and others at real risk.

This year marks the 75^th anniversary of the adoption

of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Declaration says that

all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

The sad reality is that this fundamental maxim

does not apply at all in North Korea.

In a spirit of fraternity,

we should never allow ourselves to forget

the suffering of the North Korean people.

For only by remembering and recounting

the dire human rights situation on the ground   

can we bring about change.

As part of our efforts to enable the world

to be better informed about

the grave human rights situation in North Korea,

my government has recently published the

“2023 North Korean Human Rights Report.”

It is the first publicly available report by the Korean government,

based on the testimonies of more than 500 North Korean defectors.

The report brings to light the egregious human rights abuses

and violations in North Korea.

I would like to ask for your close attention to this report.

To conclude, the international community as a whole

should work together to ease the anguish

of ordinary North Korean people.

And I am reassured today by the presence of all of you

that we are all in this together.

Thank you, and I wish you all

a productive and inspiring discussion.

/END/