North Korea Slams UN Draft Resolution on Human Rights as Interference in Internal Affairs

Recently, North Korea issued a statement strongly condemning a draft resolution on North Korean human rights submitted to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) by the European Union (EU) and others.

According to the Korean Central News Agency on the 24th, the North Korean delegation to the UN Secretariat and international organizations in Geneva stated regarding this resolution submission, “We firmly condemn and reject it as a serious political provocation that rides on the US’s hostile scheme against North Korea.”

The North Korean delegation argued, “The game of submitting ‘resolutions’ against North Korea is nothing more than a thoroughly politicized smear campaign that is in direct contradiction to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, which stipulate respect for sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs, and to the efforts of UN Member States to protect and promote human rights through dialogue and cooperation.”

Furthermore, they elaborated that “the purpose of the resolution submission is ‘interference in internal affairs'” and that “no international law has given the European alliance the authority to interfere in the internal affairs of a sovereign state and impose its own standards.”

They emphasized, “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will continue to fulfill its responsibility and role in protecting the state’s sovereign rights and protecting and promoting the human rights of the people.”

The draft resolution calls for a comprehensive review of the human rights situation in North Korea, which has deteriorated since the publication of the COI report in 2014.

Previously, Belgium submitted the draft resolution on North Korean human rights to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on behalf of the EU on the 20th (local time). South Korea also participated as a co-sponsor of this resolution this year, as it was last year.