A United Nations committee Friday apporved a draft resolution calling for improvement in human rights conditions in North Korea, initiated by South Korea, the European Union, Japan and 48 other countries.
The vote was approved 95-24, with 62 abstentions, at the Third Committee on Social, Humanitarian and Cultural issues, Yonhap News reported Saturday.
It was the first time for Seoul to initiate such a move. It had been hesitant to endorse or initiate any resolution on North Korea's human rights records for fear of provoking the isolated communist neighbor with which Seoul is seeking eventual reunification.
The resolution omits its support for the Oct. 4 Summit, which was included in last year’s resolution. It instead focuses on the importance of the two Koreas’ dialogue and calls for the punishment of those responsible for the violation of human rights in the nation by an independent legal body as well as Pyongyang’s cooperation with the International Labor Organization to improve labor conditions in the nation.
The resolution is not legally bound, but reflects the collective will of the 192 member states of the world body and carries a political basis for the U.N. to continue to take measures on the North Korean human rights conditions.
North Korea angrily reacted to the resolution with a “complete rejection.” Pak Duk-hoon, deputy chief of North Korea's permanent mission to the United Nations in New York, said “The resolution is a product of a political ploy to forcibly change North Korea's system and ideology.”
Commenting on South Korea’s participation in the resolution, Park characterized it as an “anti-unification behavior, and a provocation challenging North Korea’s sovereignty and is a complete denial of the Jun. 15 Joint Declaration and the Oct. 4 Summit Declaration,” referring to the two previous documents signed by the more liberal South Korean administrations that promoted the engagement policy with North Korea.