hankyoreh

Kim Yong-won, a standing commissioner on the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, enters a plenary meeting of the commission on March 11, 2024. (Kim Young-won/Hankyoreh)

The UN’s special rapporteur for human rights defenders has sent a letter to the South Korean government expressing concern about Kim Yong-won, a standing commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK), and his suppression of human rights advocates. Kim commissioned a police investigation of the surviving family members of a deceased soldier, an incident which prompted the Center for Military Human Rights Korea to send an emergency petition to the UN special rapporteur. 

This is the first time that the UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders has sent a letter of concern involving a standing commissioner for Korea’s human rights watchdog. As Kim has applied to become the NHRCK’s next chairman, the UN special rapporteur’s letter is likely to serve as a major variable in Kim’s prospects. 

Based on the Hankyoreh’s investigations, Mary Lawlor, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, sent a letter on June 25 expressing concern about Kim’s suppression of human rights advocates to the South Korean delegation within the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva. The delegation then relayed the letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately. The letter also contains questions regarding Kim’s case. The Foreign Ministry press office announced that it had “received the letter in question, and the relevant departments are reviewing it.”  

A special rapporteur is an independent human rights expert commissioned by the UN to draft reports and opinions on specific human rights situations or on the human rights situation in a specific country. The special rapporteur for human rights defenders is one of 46 special rapporteurs within the UN, and is tasked to ensure that defenders of human rights do not have their basic rights unjustly violated. The special rapporteur is the UN’s effort to live up to the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and the 1998 Declaration on human rights defenders. 

The special rapporteur is selected by the UN Human Rights Council. The rapporteur studies situations of human rights abuses in countries all over the world by directly visiting the places in question, and reports directly to the council and to the UN General Assembly. The OHCHR provides administrative support to the special rapporteur. 

The Center for Military Human Rights Korea is an activist group that Kim is suing for libel and defamation. When Kim mobilized the police to investigate the family members of Pvt. Yoon Seung-ju, a soldier who died after being beaten to death in 2014, the group sent a petition and emergency letter of appeal to the UN special rapporteur. 

Kim, who holds a position within the commission overseeing the protection of the human rights of those in the military, mobilized the police to investigate the family members of Yoon for trespassing. The family members tried to enter the premises of the NHRCK to protest the commission’s rejection of a motion to investigate the true story of the young soldier’s death. The police apprehended 14 of Yoon’s family members and transferred their case to prosecutors. 

Against this backdrop of events, Kim was shown to have thrown his hat in the ring to become the next head of the NHRCK, as the current chairperson, Song Doo-hwan, is expected to conclude his term in September. The commission that reviews applications to become the NHRCK chairperson will finalize its recommendation of a candidate on July 23, so the UN special rapporteur’s letter is a new element that could affect the outcome.  

“The mission of the NHRCK is to protect and ensure human rights and to protect those who are fighting for human rights, but Kim has been doing the opposite, hence the UN special rapporteur’s letter of concern. The letter reflects the worries of the international community about the human rights situation in South Korea,” said an NHRCK insider. 

“The government and the NHRCK need to take immediate measures to allay these worries.” 

By Koh Kyoung-tae, senior staff writer; Park Min-hee, senior staff writer

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