“While South Korea has made considerable strides since 1987 in the area of human rights, there is a concern that human rights as a whole, and rights to freedom of expression in particular, have been curtailed over the past two years.”

This was the conclusion reached by UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and Expression Frank La Rue yesterday as he concluded a twelve-day investigation, which began on May 6, of freedom of expression in South Korea.

While praising the fact that over the past two decades, South Korea has developed enough economically to become a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and host nation for the G-20 summit, La Rue stressed that this alone is not enough to make a nation an international leader. In other words, a country cannot earn the respect of the international community without following a model of democratic governance that respects human rights.

La Rue cited a number of major cases in South Korea related to freedom of expression, including the prosecution of Internet blogger “Minerva,” the state’s defamation suit against attorney Park Won-soon, the “PD Notebook” case, an emergency statement by member teachers from the Korean Teachers’ and Education Workers’ Union (KTU, Jeon Gyo Jo), and the ban on nighttime outdoor assemblies. La Rue said these cases represent an excessive infringement that does not conform to international human rights standards and urged the South Korean government to remedy them. He also said freedom of expression cannot be constrained, and in those cases where it must inevitably be constrained, there is a need to abide by principles of necessity and proportion.

For a country that prides itself on having achieved enough prestige to host the G-20 summit by achieving democratization and industrialization simultaneously, these comments are an embarrassment. If the government truly aspires to achieve the goal of creating an advanced society, it should humbly accept La Rue’s counsel and work actively to prevent the human rights situation from deteriorating.

However, judging from the remarks La Rue made during his press conference, it is questionable whether there is any willingness to do so within our ruling government. He expressed dismay at the fact that despite being on an official visit by invitation from the South Korean government, he was unable to meet with the president, prime minister, or any of the ministers. A meeting with the public prosecutor general and a visit to the National Intelligence Service (NIS) failed to take place, and the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) reportedly declined to give him a formal audience with the members of its standing commission. There were even allegations of NIS monitoring through tracking and video taping La Rue.

Even without any mention from La Rue, meetings with decision-makers are important as a yardstick showing the administration’s interest in human rights issues. His appraisal of the situation as being invited as a guest to someone’s home and then being told he could only to meet with the chef summarizes the international community’s criticism of the Lee administration’s contempt for human rights. If the Lee administration is to avoid any further international shame, we hope it will embark on active improvement measures before La Rue’s report is adopted in June 2011 by the UN Human Rights Council.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]