First Step in North Korean Human Rights…

Is acknowledging there is a problem

South Korea President Lee Myung-bak’s administration is calling for improvement in North Korea’s human rights situation and pledging cooperation with the United Nations on the issue. The move is a departure from previous administrations, which kept silent on North Korean human rights abuses to avoid irritating Pyongyang. VOA Seoul Correspondent Kurt Achin reports.

As he has promised to do, newly inaugurated South Korean President Lee Myung-bak is raising the profile the South’s policy toward North Korean human rights abuses.

Park In-kook, Mr. Lee’s deputy foreign minister for international organizations and global issues, spoke to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Monday in Geneva. He says it is time for North Korea - formally known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea - to make some changes.

“The Republic of Korea, underscoring human rights as a universal value, calls upon the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to take appropriate measures to address the international community’s concern that the human rights situation in the DPRK has not improved,” Park said.

I’m just going to skip to step 8 and 9, find the people that were harmed, and make amends to them directly. But like most people, I’ll believe them when it happens.