The two main political parties are to submit their separate bills aimed at helping improve North Korea’s dire human rights conditions to a parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and unification Monday. The committee chairman, Rep. Yu Ki-jun from the conservative ruling Saenuri Party, last week expressed hope that the envisioned law on the North’s human rights would be enacted by the end of this year.

The latest signals from the liberal main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy have increased the possibility of the National Assembly passing a North Korean rights bill this time after a decade of delay. The NPAD’s interim leader Moon Hee-sang was quoted by a vernacular daily as saying Friday that there was no reason for his party to oppose the bill’s passage as long as some differences were settled with the ruling party.

The moves by the main parties follow the adoption of a resolution by a U.N. General Assembly committee earlier last week on the dismal human rights situation in North Korea.

South Korean lawmakers should have enacted the law before the passage of the U.N. resolution rather than being prompted by it to undertake the delayed legislative work. They should feel ashamed of their inactivity, given legislatures in the U.S., the European Union and other Western democracies have passed laws or resolutions addressing the North’s rights violations over the past years.

The NPAD and the liberal parties that preceded it cannot avoid criticism for having blocked the passage of North Korean human rights bills since 2005, when the first one was submitted to parliament.

Liberal lawmakers have argued that the move will provoke Pyongyang, aggravating inter-Korean ties. But they should now recognize that the resolute approach by the international community has led the recalcitrant regime to ease its stance. The North tried in vain to exclude any mention of referring its rights record to the International Criminal Court from the latest U.N. resolution by inviting special U.N. investigators to visit the country. Its release of two detained U.S. citizens earlier this month was also seen as an attempt to improve its image in the lead-up to the vote on the resolution.

Since the adoption of the resolution, which is certain to be endorsed by the U.N. General Assembly next month, Pyongyang has repeatedly threatened to bolster its military capability, hinting at the possibility of conducting additional nuclear tests. Its rhetoric, however, sounds irrelevant and hollow.

NPAD leader Moon struck the right chord when he dismissed the North’s response as nonsense during a meeting with party officials Friday. He should go further to prod some party lawmakers sympathetic with Pyongyang to be more positive toward enacting the rights law.

The ruling party may need to accept the opposition’s demand that the proposed law include no clause on assistance to activist groups involved in a campaign to fly anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border.

An integrated version of five related bills proposed by Saenuri lawmakers calls on the government to document North Korea’s dismal human rights record, draw up a plan to improve it and appoint an ambassador in charge of promoting international attention to the issue. If implemented in a consistent and persistent manner, it could serve its purpose.

The rival parties should this time bridge the gap between their stances to pass a bill designed to help enhance rights conditions in the North. Any further delay would be out of step with the surging international momentum and would raise questions about our moral sensitivity and courage.