North Korea claimed that an anti-DPRK human rights resolution pushed by the European Union and Japan and other “hostile forces” at the U.N. General Assembly is a “typical politicization, selectivity and double standards,” the Korean Central News Agency reported in English.
The DPRK stands for North Korea’s official name, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
North Korea has bristled at any talk of its human rights conditions, calling it a U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime. Last month, it released its own human rights report, claiming the country has the world’s most advantageous human rights system and policies.
The North said that human rights mean sovereignty, adding that “It is necessary to strongly react to the hostile forces attempting to meddle in the internal affairs of other countries under the signboard of human rights.”
The reaction came as the EU and Japan are driving efforts to slam North Korea’s human right conditions as they have written a draft resolution that calls for the Security Council to refer Pyongyang’s human rights issue to an international criminal justice mechanism.
North Korea’s human rights situation has been in the spotlight since the U.N. Commission of Inquiry (COI) made public a report on the North’s human rights conditions in February after a yearlong probe.
The report accused Pyongyang of making “systematic, widespread and grave violations of human rights.” It added that North Korean leaders’ crimes against humanity should be dealt with by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In response to the international community’s move, the North is drafting its resolution to counter the EU-led move, demanding that the U.N. debate on human rights should be conducted on the principle of guaranteeing sovereignty and mutual respect.
The North is seeking to muster support from a group of non-aligned countries for its proposed draft resolution.
Amb. Robert King, special U.S. envoy for North Korean human rights issues, said Friday that the North is scrambling to control damage from the proposed U.N. resolution, adding it’s a sign that the North is “losing the battle” on the issue. (Yonhap)
