In an apparent dampening of the government’s zeal to tackle human rights abuses in North Korea, the National Human Rights Commission’s budget for the area was slashed by one-third this year, officials said Wednesday.

According to the independent organization, the budget allotted for the North Korea human rights section is 200 million won ($17,800), down from last year’s 331 million won. The commission originally requested 313 million won, but the parliament voted to allot a smaller amount, commission officials said.

Money requested for interviewing and studying the cases of North Korean defectors was scrapped.

About 74 million won was allotted to host international forums about North Korea’s lack of human rights. Another 52 million won will be used for research and seminars, 44 million won for field research and 30 million won for publication of related studies. The commission was given similar or increased sums in the rest of its budget.

NHRC insiders said politicians’ differing opinions on North Korean human rights issues caused the change.

“Some lawmakers have been linking it with unification, a super-sensitive political issue, while some have been rather neutral and stuck with the principle of respect for human rights,” said Won Jae-chun, director-general of the commission’s policy, education and international affairs.

Nonetheless, the commission, which is headed by Commissioner-General Hyun Byung-chul, a conservative figure, vowed to take a more aggressive stance over the North Korean issue. It announced a “roadmap” on Jan. 21 asking the government to establish a North Korean human rights watchdog under the Prime Minister’s Office, establish an archive for monitoring human rights issues and form a three-party negotiation body with Japan and the U.S. for the improvement of human rights in the communist state.

“Human rights are nothing political. It is a shame that some people side it with their political views,” Won said.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)