U.S. not linking N. Korea human rights to nuke issue: official
2014/03/15 09:14
By Lee Chi-dong
WASHINGTON, March 14 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. government will not necessarily tie the North Korean nuclear issue to efforts to improve human rights conditions in the communist state, a State Department official said Friday.
But Amb. Robert King, special envoy for North Korean human rights affairs, made it clear that Washington will support U.N. action against the North for its human rights abuses highlighted in a recent U.N. panel report.
In terms of relations with North Korea, the U.S. has a channel for discussion on the nuclear issue, he said, apparently referring to the six-party talks, which have been stalled for years.
"We should also have a channel to be able to carry out conversations on the human rights issue as well. They don't have to be linked," the ambassador said at a press conference for foreign reporters here.
He added that the nuclear issue is "the one that is getting the highest attention."
He emphasized, however, that it's also important to deal with the human rights issue in a broader context.
"I think we've taken the view that an improvement in the relationship between North Korea and the United States will depend on improvement in the North Korean record on human rights," he said.
The envoy said the U.N. Human Rights Council is expected to adopt a resolution next week on specific actions aimed at improving the North's human rights record. King plans to attend the council's Geneva meeting.
In a 400-page report last month, based largely on testimonies by North Korea defectors, a U.N. Commission of Inquiry detailed a wide range of crimes against humanity happening in the North. The commission called on the U.N. Security Council to bring the issue to the International Criminal Court.
"If it can be worked out to have this debated and discussed in the Security Council, we certainly would be supportive of doing that," King said.
If so, it is almost certain to pit the U.S. against China, another veto-wielding member of the council and North Korea's last-remaining major communist ally, once again.
On efforts to win the release of Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American man detained in the North, King reaffirmed that he is prepared to visit Pyongyang to discuss the matter.
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