Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Heat on N Korea’s ‘crimes’
GENEVA: The top UN human rights body has agreed to widen its investigation into widespread violations in North Korea, with a view to documenting alleged crimes against humanity for future prosecution.
North Korea said it “categorically and totally rejects” the resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council. The text had been framed by the US and “other hostile forces” for political reasons “to strangle the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea)”, its envoy said after boycotting the debate.
The 47-member state Geneva forum adopted a resolution, brought by Japan and the EU and backed by the US, on the final day of its four-week session without a vote.
China said it “dissociated” itself from the council’s decision, and called for dialogue. The country’s delegation warned that the situation on the divided Korean peninsula was “complex and sensitive”.
The UN human rights office in Seoul will be strengthened for two years with international criminal justice experts to establish a central repository for testimony and evidence, “with a view to developing possible strategies to be used in any future accountability process”, the text said.
North Korean representative Mun Jong Chol said: “The ‘resolution’ is nothing more than a document for interference in internal affairs of sovereign states and represents the culmination of politicisation, selectivity and double standards of human rights.” – Reuters