North Korea’s human rights issues not on the summit agenda

 The agenda for the third inter-Korean summit scheduled for April 27 is unlikely to have North Korean human rights issues despite calls for the inclusion by more than 200 NGOs earlier this week.

The NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, sent a joint letter to President Moon Jae-in earlier this week to urged the North Korean leader to follow the UN’s human rights recommendations and facilitate human rights talks between the two Koreas.

The letter also pushed for regular reunions of separated families and increase inter-Korean people-to-people contact.

However, South Korea’s Ministry of Unification confirmed human rights in North Korea was not on the agenda.

“The main agenda will be denuclearisation, establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula and improving North-South relations. Nothing more, nothing less,” Baik Tae-hyun, spokesperson for the ministry, told Al Jazeera.

This will be the first inter-Korean summit since 2007 and only the third since the 1950-1953 Korean War.

It is scheduled to be attended by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon.

Source: aljazeera.com