{"id":2196172,"date":"2022-05-18T18:45:53","date_gmt":"2022-05-18T09:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nknews.org\/pro\/?p=2196172"},"modified":"2023-04-05T16:12:23","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T07:12:23","slug":"south-korea-and-human-rights-beyond-the-korean-peninsula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2022\/05\/south-korea-and-human-rights-beyond-the-korean-peninsula\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea and human rights beyond the Korean Peninsula"},"content":{"rendered":"
Discussions about South Korea\u2019s human rights policy typically focus on North Korea. However, both internal and external changes are forcing the South Korean government to reconsider its human rights diplomacy toward countries around the globe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On the domestic front, a <\/span>2020 survey<\/span><\/a> by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies found that 66.3% of South Koreans at the time wanted the U.S.-ROK alliance to be based on human rights and democratic ideals rather than confronting North Korea, up from 51.2% in 2016.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Externally, South Korea is stuck in the middle of the U.S. and China, a competition where human rights are increasingly salient. Donald Trump signed the <\/span>Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act<\/span><\/a> in 2019 and the Biden administration led a <\/span>diplomatic boycott<\/span><\/a> of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing in response to \u201cgenocide and crimes against humanity\u201d in Xinjiang.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Given commitments by new ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol that South Korea will focus on <\/span>human rights<\/span><\/a> as well as reassess its relationship with China, it is important to consider South Korea\u2019s recent developments in terms of human rights diplomacy and consider what repercussions a more active stance moving forward may have.<\/span><\/p>\n