Seoul Summit: Summary and Impact

(by guest blogger Andy Jackson)

This the last of a series of posts on the Seoul Summit: Promoting Human Rights in North Korea and related events.

Signing up
When Joshua and I had talked about my guest-blogging at One Free Korea last summer, I ultimately decided against it for a couple of reasons. First, I was already writing for my blog, the Marmot’s Hole and (rarely) TCS Daily. Between those commitments and my day job, I just didn’t think I had the time to make much of a contribution. Second, most of my posts are of the “˜link and spin’ variety and Joshua, having access to same MSM sites that I do, really didn’t need my help to put out a good product.

That changed this fall and winter when I got the chance to cover the Seoul Summit for Human Right in North Korea first hand. That brought up the question of where to post. Considering Joshua’s excellent coverage of Freedom House’s Washington event, I asked him if I could come on board.

Summary
About ten days prior to the summit, several speakers, including Kang Chol-hwan and Tim Peters, gave lectures on North Korean human rights. Aside from being informative, the lectures gave me a chance to work out technical blogging issues. I was also lucky enough to catch a presentation by David Hawk at a small gathering of human rights activists.

As for my posts of the Seoul Summit itself, I believe that most of the post titles are pretty self-explanatory:

– Overview and opening dinner
– Vershbow, Leftkowitz and post-conference fireworks
– The Status of North Korean human rights NGOs in the ROK
– “˜We are not a bunch of pacifists and appeasers.’
– Kim Moon-soo, the anti-Chung Dong-young
– Michael Horowitz’s statement
– “˜Resolving the nuclear question and NK human rights are not mutually exclusive.’
– On food aid and “˜military first’
– Breaking through Kim Jong-il’s walls of isolation
– All North Korean refugees are political refugees
– NGOs and NK human rights

Seoul Summit’s impact
In the short term, I think the impact of the Seoul Summit was negligible. The crowds for the conference and post-conference rallies, while not insignificant, were not especially impressive by Korean standards. The timing (in the middle of a freezing spell and just before final exams) didn’t help. Any buzz generated by them was quickly pushed off the public radar by the saga of Hwang Woo-suk’s fall from grace (which has become the Korean equivalent of the OJ trial for the way it captured the public’s attention).

But I think the summit did three things that could have a long-term impact on the North Korean human rights debate in South Korea.

First, it reinforced the Grand National Party’s position of making human rights a first-tier issue in Seoul’s relationship with Pyongyang. Both of the GNP’s leading candidate’s for President in 2007, Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak, participated in the summit. The conference also raised the profile of Kim Moon-soo, a GNP member who is the conscience of the National Assembly on human rights for North Koreans.

Second, it put the administration on the defensive regarding its North Korean policies. For too long they have gotten away with portraying Roh Moo-hyun’s Sunshine II policy as enlightened engagement and opponents as simple knee-jerk anti-communists. The summit exposed the lie of that argument and put the administration and its supporters on the defensive. While I don’t expect any major changes in policy from the Roh administration, they might begin to feel enough pressure to at least limit the damage. A good start would be for the government to reverse its policy against helping North Korean defectors.

Third, there is a small but growing movement on Korean campuses supporting human rights for North Koreans. On December 10, I saw about 300 students gather to organize in support of the issue. That is about three times the number that attended a similar event last year. The student movement is significant because it further undercuts the belief by those in the government that putting human rights for North Koreans on the backburner is somehow “˜progressive.’

While it will be a long struggle, I believe that those three currents could have a significant impact on the 2007 presidential and 2008 legislative elections. The Seoul Summit was a small but important step in the right direction.

Signing off
With my work on the Seoul Summit done, I am signing off at OFK for the time being. If another opportunity arises, and Joshua keeps a light on for me, I may be back again.