Does negative experience lead to bias? Gov’t council expresses concern over think tank’s reliance on defector accounts.

A research council under the prime minister's office raised concerns about potential bias in surveys of North Korean defectors by an institute and urged its researchers to consider the government's North Korea policy, an assessment that the opposition slammed as politically motivated.

The National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences offered the perspective in its annual evaluation of a North Korean human rights research project conducted by the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), according to documents obtained by People Power Party (PPP) Rep. Shin Dong-uk on Tuesday.

The council recommended that KINU "consider the new administration's policy direction toward North Korea and explore ways to improve human rights conditions within the country," referring to the Lee Jae Myung administration.

It also questioned KINU's reliance on surveys of defectors to assess human rights conditions.

"Focusing research on a group that has had negative experiences in North Korean society could raise concerns about bias," the evaluation said.

The project is one of KINU's core research initiatives, with its findings serving as reference material for the institute's annual white paper on human rights in North Korea and other publications. The council's evaluation was conducted between January and April.

The council also expressed concerns about seminars on North Korean human rights organized by KINU.

"If [the seminars] become more prominent, they could contribute to weakening North Korea's willingness to cooperate in initiating dialogue," the evaluation said.

The evaluation panel added that the institute's efforts to identify the implications of inter-Korean cooperation are valid, but said those efforts "should not be directed toward exposing, criticizing, pressuring or imposing sanctions over human rights conditions in North Korea."

The remarks largely reflected concerns that publicizing human rights abuses in North Korea could worsen inter-Korean relations.

The PPP argued that the council's approach to evaluating North Korean human rights research had shifted sharply from its stance under the previous Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

In its evaluation of KINU's research performance for 2024, conducted last year, the council had instead recommended that the institute "strengthen efforts to gather opinions from North Korean defector organizations and individual defectors."

Questions have also been raised over whether changes to the council's Evaluation Department contributed to assessments more closely aligned with the government's policies.

Lee Han-joo, a former professor at Gachon University who has been described as a mentor to President Lee, took over as council chairman in November of last year. Three of the five general members responsible for evaluations were also replaced by figures described as sympathetic to the ruling bloc.

Among the newly appointed members is Chung Han-beom, a professor at the Korea National Defense University's Graduate School of Defense Management who has also co-authored a book about President Lee's foreign and security policy, published last year.

Another member, Jeong Do-hee, a professor at Gyeongsang National University, completed a doctoral dissertation under the supervision of Cho Kuk, who heads the Rebuilding Korea Party's Institute for Innovation Policy Research.

Kwon Hyung-dun, a professor at Kongju National University, also joined the panel. In May of last year, Kwon participated in a statement that condemned the Supreme Court's decision to overturn and remand an election law violation case involving Lee, then the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, and called for the resignation of Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de.

The research council rejected suggestions that the panel members had been selected for their political affiliations.

"These are people who have previously served as evaluation committee members, and they were not selected based on their political leanings," a council official said.

"The evaluation appears to have been made with the intention that it would be good if research can be conducted in line with the administration's policies, but that does not mean it should unconditionally favor the Lee Jae Myung administration," the official added.

Rep. Shin criticized the changes to the evaluation panel and questioned whether the government was attempting to influence research on North Korean human rights.

"After President Lee's 'mentor' became chairman, even the evaluation committee members were replaced with figures sympathetic to the ruling party," the lawmaker said. "I will question during the parliamentary audit whether the government intends to evaluate even North Korean human rights research according to its political preferences and muzzle research institutions."

BY YANG SU-MIN [[email protected]]