§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)My honourable friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr Bill Rammell) visited the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) from 11 to 14 September. It was the first ever visit by a British Minister. He undertook the trip because the North Koreans had agreed, for the first time, to substantive discussions on the nuclear issue and human rights. He met Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun, Chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly Chae Thae Bok, Human Rights Minister Choe Su Hon and Kim Gye Gwan, head of the DPRK's delegation to the six-party talks on dismantling North Korea's nuclear programme.
Mr Rammell stressed to Foreign Minister Paek and chief negotiator Kim Gye Gwan the importance which 129WS the UK and the international community attach to the continuation of the six-party talks. For some time, it has been clear that the North Koreans might not proceed with the scheduled fourth round of talks by the end of September. The Foreign Minister restated the DPRK's commitment to the talks process, but admitted the DPRK's reluctance to meet again in September. Mr Rammell also impressed the need for the DPRK to admit its uranium enrichment programme, and encouraged the regime to look to the example of Libya.
Before the visit, the FCO delegation consulted on the human rights situation with three leading NGOs—Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Christian Solidarity World-wide. Armed with detailed information on individual cases, Mr Rammell was able to hand to Human Rights Minister Choe Su Hon a list of 18 named individuals, and asked for a full written response. In particular, he raised the cases of two South Korean pastors reportedly abducted to the DPRK from China whose details we learnt about from Christian Solidarity World-wide. He handed over satellite photographs of what appear to be a number of large prison camps in the DPRK and asked for both an explanation and access to them by diplomats resident in Pyongyang. He also pressed for the North Koreans to allow visits, so far barred, by the recently appointed UN special rapporteur for human rights in the DPRK and by other thematic UN human rights special rapporteurs; and further visits by Foreign Office human rights experts. Mr Rammell hopes to hear more about this at the UN General Assembly next week when he will meet Choe Su Hon again to continue discussions. He repeatedly made the points that blanket denials by the North Koreans of alleged human rights violations were simply not credible.
Mr Rammell's visit coincided with reports of a large explosion in the north of the country. Having asked for an explanation, Foreign Minister Peak said it was a planned explosion of a mountain for the construction of a hydro-electric power plant. He agreed to the request that diplomats might visit to see for themselves. The arrangements are now in hand. The British Ambassador visited the blast site today, we have asked for an urgent report on the visit.