Lee Myung Bak: Let’s Talk About Human Rights to North Korea

Seoul Mayor and current presidential front-runner Lee Myung-Bak is dipping his toe into new waters–the hitherto unpopular issue of human rights in North Korea . . . .

“We can talk about the importance of human rights as much as we like and it does not mean that we deal with the issue as if we were fighting a battle,” Lee, 65, said. “It is not a matter of whether or not to do it, but a matter of how and to what extent.”

Hardly the stuff of modern-day abolitionism, but then, as I noted in my Lee Myung Bak dossier several months back, I could find no record that he’d previously uttered a word about the subject until now.

Lee made the remarks as an indirect criticism against the Roh Moo-hyun administration which, though acknowledging the universality of human rights problems, has taken a lukewarm stance in the North’s case for fear of ruining inter-Korean cooperation.

South Korea’s conservative forces, represented by the opposition GNP, have often attacked the Roh administration for engaging North Korea, and have called for a more hard line approach toward the Stalinist regime.

“You know that the 21st century is the era of human rights. I don’t think there should be any difference between the progressives and conservatives,” Lee said. “Even at a time of economic hardship, it is of great use to talk about the issue at great length.”

Say what you will about Lee’s opportunism; he’s a clever politician who wouldn’t be testing these waters if our side of this ideological battle weren’t making gains. Lee sees the possibility of a market here. Like him or not–his cross-country waterway proposal is an addlebrained idea for a small, mountainous peninsula–he’s the best candidate Korea is likely to get. By bringing the issue up, he may well crystallize similar sentiments among fence-sitters, or those who hadn’t given the issue much thought.

A big hat tip to a blog I hadn’t see before–the Suburban Dissident, which does deep, thoughtful, and somewhat infrequent posts.