Human rights and North Korean defector groups in South Korea say they are struggling to raise money, cutting jobs and programmes, and facing pressure to avoid criticism of Pyongyang as Seoul and Washington focus on diplomatic outreach to the isolated country. Activists say they were disappointed but unsurprised human rights has seemingly disappeared from the agenda as South Korean and American leaders met with Kim Jong Un in recent months. “As South and North Korea have promoted this ‘mood for peace,’ the defectors and North Korean human rights activist groups feel excluded,” said Kim Tae-hee, a defector who heads the Coalition for North Korean Refugees. The South Korean government recently closed the office of a human rights foundation, and representatives of several non-governmental organizations told Reuters they have struggled to secure funding. Citing a lack of financial backing, as well as recent clashes between police and groups trying to send leaflets into North Korea, Kim said she feels the government is undermining the work of human rights and defector NGOs. “I feel that an invisible hand is at work,” she said. The Unification Ministry said its stance remains that it “will strive to comprehensively protect the civil liberties and social rights of the North Korean people”. A spokesman on Wednesday highlighted efforts to help North Korean defectors settle in the South. But President Moon Jae-in’s administration has moved away from criticism of Pyongyang’s rights record in favor of engagement. Senior aides to Moon have told Reuters they believe confronting Pyongyang could be counterproductive and possibly harmful to North Korean citizens, who will continue to suffer if their government remains isolated. ‘Ambivalence’ UN investigators have reported the use of political prison camps, starvation and executions in North Korea, saying security chiefs and possibly even Kim Jong Un himself should face international justice. Between 80,000 and 120,000 people are held in political prison camps, the UN’s top North Korea rights official reported last year. The North Korean mission at the United Nations did not respond to requests for comment, but state media has released a steady flow of commentaries this year, warning taking issue with rights could undermine the detente. Even before Moon responded to Kim Jong Un’s overtures in January, there were signs support for some defectors and human rights activists was waning. The South Korean government ended nearly 20 years of funding for the Association of North Korean Defectors in December, forcing the organisation to end most of its programmes, move to a smaller office, and lay off staff, said Seo Jae-Pyoung, the association’s secretary general. “Only two people… are both working here now,” Seo said. “We have been working unpaid since earlier this year.” Seo said some South Korean citizens told his group to stop launching propaganda leaflets into North Korea because it would “throw a wet blanket on improving inter-Korean relations”. Officials with the International Coalition to Stop Crimes against Humanity in North Korea (ICNK), which is affiliated with international organisations like Human Rights Watch and Freedom House, said they have struggled to win new government grants. “There have been no direct restrictions or notices by the government, as far as I know,” said Kwon Eun-Kyoung, Secretary General of ICNK. “But I feel that there is definitely ambivalence among some working level government officials and even the press, who don’t proactively talk about North Korean human rights.” Joanna Hosaniak, deputy director general at the Citizen’s Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, said her organization had also seen donations from South Korean corporations dry up over the past year, amid changes in the domestic and international political climate. When Thae Yong Ho, a former North Korean diplomat to the UK who defected in 2016, stepped down from his position at a government-affiliated think tank after North Korean media called him “human scum,” some in South Korea saw it as an attempt by the government to distance itself from defectors. Published in Daily Times, June 28th 2018.