President Park Geun-hye met with influential figures from international courts at Cheong Wa Dae on July 9. During the meeting, she urged that an interest in the human rights issues of North Korean people be taken.

The meeting attendees included David Scheffer, the UN Secretary-General's Special Expert on United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials, Song Sang-Hyun, the International Criminal Court President, Kwon O-Gon, a Judge and Vice President of The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and Chung Chang-ho, a judge of The Khmer Rouge Tribunal.


President Park delivered words of encouragement to the meeting participants, “Exchanges among the international courts lay down precious grounds for humankind to enjoy a happy life.” She also emphasized the need for international courts to take steps on human rights issues, “If the international courts contribute to helping North Korean people live happy lives without suffering human rights violations, this will eventually contribute to achieving peace and unification on the Korean Peninsula.”

“Despite the past hardships such as colonization, war and ongoing military tension, the Republic of Korea has made an intense effort to realize democracy and constitutionalism. As a result, we have developed both in terms of politics and the economy and made a high level of progress on human rights,” said President Park.

President Park referred to the nation's effort to share its expertise with other countries by saying, “Korea has been striving to share our experience and expertise with countries in the third world through carrying out various projects by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) such as the Vietnam Judge Training School project for the Vietnam Supreme People’s Courts and invitational training programs for overseas judges.” She added that the Korean government will not spare any effort to provide the necessary support for international courts.

By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
arete@korea.kr