N. Korean defectors petition rights watchdog over alleged abuses

A group of 10 North Korean defectors on Tuesday filed a petition with Seoul's human rights watchdog over abuse they allegedly suffered in their communist homeland. The move comes as the National Human Rights Commission is collecting cases of human rights violations in the North, information it said will be used in crafting policies. The watchdog also plans to seek ways to cooperate with the international community on the issue. North Korea has long been accused of human rights abuses, ranging from holding hundreds of thousands of political prisoners to public executions and torture. Pyongyang denies the accusations, calling them a U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime. On Tuesday, some 10 defectors said they filed the petition to bring to light human rights abuses they suffered in a prison labor camp before defecting to the South. No details were immediately available. The development comes amid a political standoff over a bill designed to help improve North Korea's dismal human rights conditions. The ruling and opposition parties have yet to work out differences on their two separate bills that call for assistance to improve the regime's human rights record and humanitarian aid to North Koreans. There are some concerns in the South that a proposed bill could further worsen inter-Korean relations, which plunged to their lowest level in decades following the North's two deadly attacks on the South last year. The South blames North Korea for the sinking of a South Korean warship in March of last year, but the North still adamantly denies its involvement. The North also shelled a front-line South Korean island in November, killing two soldiers and two civilians. On Monday, North Korea threatened to retaliate "mercilessly" and "sternly" if South Korea passes a bill on its human rights conditions.