There has been some excellent blogging over the past few days over at One Free Korea which has this week featured Andy Jackson of Flying Yangban fame guest blogging from the three day North Korean Human Rights Summit in Seoul. Here is a compilation of links of his excellent posts regarding the summit:

Seoul Summit: Line-up for the Thursday night reception

Seoul Summit: Overview and opening dinner

Seoul Summit: Vershbow, Lefkowitz and post-conference fireworks

Seoul Summit: The status North Korean human rights NGOs in the ROK

Seoul Summit: ‘We are not a bunch of pacifists and appeasers.’

Not to be undone Joshua of One Free Korea has also contributed the below link that offers an interesting suggestion for (anti-)Unification Minister Chung Dong-young concerning South Korea’s unconcern about North Korean counterfeiting of US dollars:

A Modest Proposal for Chung Dong-Young: It’s All About the Sejongs

My modest proposal is this: Chung should drive a U-Haul over to the Bank of Korea and load it up with proof plates, paper, and green ink. Then, he should drive the whole load up, across the DMZ, to Kaesong. Naturally, Chung should be prepared to make a few more small compromises:

All he need bring back in exchange is the proof plates for the Benjamins.

What follows is a win-win for all. North Korea keeps on (literally) making money, the United States goes back to being to the sole producer of high-quality U.S. federal reserve notes, and South Korea gets one more chance to appease the North. This, in some circles, is known as putting your money where your mouth is.

Tell us, Minister Chung: are you willing to let them print your country’s currency instead? Won’t you at least hold a few rounds of bilateral talks about that?

Absolutely a great idea, but I’m sure Minister Chung will give it about as much thought as he gave about having a meeting with the United States special envoy on North Korean human rights, Jay Lefkowitz:

Lefkowitz reportedly requested a meeting with Unification Minister Chung Dong-young on Thursday. But Chung dodged it, saying that he is “not in the same league,” a source in the government said.

(…)

It was thought that Chun would be the highest-ranking official whom Lefkowitz could meet in Seoul, but the foreign ministry arranged another meeting the next day between the American envoy and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myung-hwan.

What might have raised Lefkowitz’s eyebrows was the time and place of the meeting: a teashop outside the ministry at 7:30 a.m. What they discussed was not released to the media.

In a nutshell, Seoul gave Lefkowitz a frosty reception to deliver a strong message that, even though it did not thwart the Seoul Summit hosted by human rights groups, it did not want to irritate North Korea by giving a warm welcome to the special envoy.

I have to agree with Nomad that this unconcern for human rights will come back to haunt South Korea. It is already affecting their moral authority in the UN in regards to votes on human rights abuses in other countries. More the world becomes educated on the human rights abuses in North Korea the more difficult it will be for the South Korean government to maintain this facade of indifference towards what is happening in the North.