YONHAP NEWS

(LEAD) U.N. urges N. Korea to respect all human rights

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Nov. 20 (Yonhap) -- The United Nations adopted a resolution Thursday (New York time), condemning North Korea for its "systemic, widespread, and grave violations" of human rights, as the 192-member organization is poised to conduct a comprehensive review of the secretive communist nation's human rights condition in a special session next month.

The resolution, co-sponsored by 53 nations and approved by a special committee of the U.N. General Assembly, also strongly urges Pyongyang to "respect fully all human rights and fundamental freedoms."

The General Assembly "expresses its very serious concern at the persistence of continuing reports of systemic, widespread, and grave violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," according to the text of the resolution released Friday by South Korea's foreign ministry.

   The document pointed out that torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment including conditions of detention, public executions, extrajudicial and arbitrary detention are prevalent there.

   South Korea said that it co-sponsored the resolution and also voted for it. The decision is based on the government's position that "the universal value of human rights should be handled separately from other issues," the foreign ministry said in a press release.

   This year's resolution mostly struck a similar tone to those adopted in previous years.

   Among the newly-added articles is one urging U.N. member nations to comply with their obligations under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees, according to the ministry. Many North Korean refugees and asylum-seekers are expelled or returned to North Korea to face harsh punishment, the resolution said.

   It also expressed concern at the "continuing reports of violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of children, in particular the continued lack of access to basic economic, social and cultural rights for many children," another new article.

   As expected, North Korea immediately dismissed all the contents of the resolution as groundless. Pyongyang's deputy ambassador to the U.N., Pak Tok-hun, said the resolution was an attempt to "isolate and suffocate" his country.

   But the resolution will ratchet up pressure on the North ahead of the U.N. Human Rights Council's assessment of North Korea's general human rights situation under a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session on Dec. 7.

   The panel introduced the UPR system last year with the aim of providing member nations with constructive advice on how to improve their human rights records. All U.N. member states are subject to the UPR.

   A South Korean foreign ministry official said North Korea is expected to dispatch a delegation to the upcoming UPR session in Geneva.

   "In the hearing-style session, North Korean representatives will give opening remarks and receive questions from other nations on the North Korean human rights condition," the official said, asking not to be named.

   He added the list of North Korean delegates remains unknown.

   For the UPR session on South Korea last year, Seoul sent then Vice Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan, now President Lee Myung-bak's chief secretary for security and foreign affairs.

   At that time, North Korea urged South Korea to abolish its anti-communist National Security Law, arguing it is a tool to repress political activists.

   Earlier this week, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee endorsed the nomination of Robert King, a former congressional aide, as President Barack Obama's special envoy for North Korean human rights. King replaces Jay Lefkowitz who quit in January after serving four years since 2005.

   lcd@yna.co.kr
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