and experts related to North Korean human rights, iv) hold policy consultations with
government agencies on a regular basis, and v) strengthen the monitoring activities of
domestic and international organizations and groups working in the field of North Korean
human rights.
To this end, the NHRCK performed policy activities including reviewing government
policies that have North Korean human rights implications and the delivery of its
recommendations and opinions. In addition, the Commission pursued projects that would
strengthen exchange and cooperation with international human rights organizations and
NGOs at home and abroad, as priority projects. In addition to these efforts, it also
conducted a policy research and investigated the latest human rights status in North
Koreans; human rights of North Korean defectors wandering overseas; the human rights of
South Korean prisoners of the Korean War and abductees detained in North Korea; the
human rights of families separated in the two Koreas; and improving the human rights for
North Korean defectors.
B. Major Activities
1) Opinions and the Chairperson’s Statement
① Opinion on the Bill for Partial Amendments to the Act on the Repatriation and
Treatment of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces Prisoners of the Korean War
The government submitted to the National Assembly a bill for the partial amendment to
the Act on the Repatriation and Treatment of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces
Prisoners of the Korean War on August 24, 2012. The Commission expressed its opinion
to the Chairperson of the National Assembly that a provision is needed stipulating a burial
in the National Cemetery for those war prisoners who remain unreturned to South Korea,
and a clause on granting the bereaved families the status of the families of death in battle to
protect the right of bereaved families of the Armed Forces prisoners who died while in
detention. (October 11, 2012)
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Part II. Major Activities of the Commission