Credit: Public domain.
According to a recent survey commissioned by the National Unification Advisory Council 민주평화통일자문회의, an advisory committee for the president, a strong majority of South Koreans - 70.5% - agreed that the South Korean government should also participate in the international community’s efforts to improve North Korean human rights and living conditions.
The strong majority appeared across all demographic divides, including gender, age group, and region. Notably, 77% of liberal voters agreed with the promotion of North Korean human rights, while 69.3% of conservative voters and 68.8% of moderates agreed. A common charge by South Korea’s conservatives has been that South Korean liberals looked away from North Korea’s deplorable human rights conditions in order to engage in diplomacy with the Kim Jong Un 김정은 regime.