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(LEAD) Roh instructed abstention from U.N. vote on N.K. rights resolution: spokesperson
By Yoo Cheong-mo
SINGAPORE, Nov. 21 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean government decided to abstain from Tuesday's U.N. vote on a resolution condemning North Korea's human rights record, in order not to damage inter-Korean relations, the office of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said Wednesday.
A U.N. General Assembly committee adopted a draft resolution in New York Tuesday expressing "very serious concern" at persistent reports of widespread human rights violations in North Korea, including torture, inhumane conditions of detention and public executions.
The assembly's human rights committee approved the resolution by a vote of 97-23 with 60 abstentions, including South Korea. The draft now goes to the 192-member General Assembly for a final vote.
"President Roh made the final decision to abstain from the U.N. vote on North Korean human rights resolution on Tuesday, in consideration of inter-Korean relations," Roh's spokesperson Cheon Ho-seon said.
"Roh reached the decision after being briefed by Foreign Minister Song Min-soon and chief presidential secretary for security and foreign policy, Baek Jong-chun, prior to the beginning of the U.N. vote," said Cheon.
Seoul's abstention drew intense criticism from the popular conservative bloc at home that has called for a tough policy on North Korea's human rights condition and its nuclear weapons program.
"It's a shame in front of the international community that the Roh Moo-hyun government showed a passive and lukewarm attitude to the North Korean human rights issue," said Rep. Chung Moon-hun, a chief policy maker with the Grand National Party.
The main opposition party, which polls show as likely to win the Dec. 19 presidential election, blamed Roh for restricting South Korea's position by agreeing not to intervene in domestic affairs during his recent summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
The two Korean leaders also signed a joint declaration in Pyongyang in early October calling for a three- or four-nation summit to discuss the official ending of the Korean War and a Korean peace treaty. The 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula technically in a state of war.
At the beginning of October, North Korea agreed with the five other members of the six-party talks -- South Korea, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia -- to disable its nuclear facilities by the end of this year in return for aid and better ties with the U.S. and Japan.
So far, Seoul has abstained or been absent in voting on North Korea-related resolutions out of concern that criticism of Pyongyang might complicate inter-Korean relations and efforts to negotiate over the North's nuclear program.
Roh is now visiting Singapore to attend a series of summits with East Asian leaders.
(END)
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