earticle

영어

The European Union(EU) places the respect for human rights and the spread of principle of democracy on top priority as universal values international society has to pursue. Furthermore the EU's foreign policy is based on the principle of human rights and democratic value.The EU's human right policy toward North Korea is neither independent or separate. That is to say, from a broader view they fall under the framework of the EU's Asia policy. The baseline of the EU's Asia policy stems from "Towards a New Asia Strategy" announced in 1994 and "Europe and Asia: A Strategic Framework for Enhanced Partnership" established in 2001. At the same time, since the establishment of official relationship in 1963, the European Union has throughly been negotiating with the Republic of Korea on North Korean issues through official as well as unofficial channels and promoting 'close negotiations and harmonization of positions' in important issues. The North Korea-EU relationship substantially started to get on the right track since the 90's. An official diplomatic relationship was established between them on 14 May 2001. The EU's human rights policy toward North Korea preconditions the relationship with North Korea. The EU keeps raising human rights issues through political dialogues in the negotiation with North Korea. Also, it is a precondition of the EU's economic aid on North Korea. Especially, in the 58th and the 59th UN Commission on Human Rights, the EU is persistently driving consistent policy, arousing interests of international society by problematizing the human rights violation of North Korea.