South Korea has renewed its calls at the U.N. General Assembly meeting for North Korea to improve its human rights situation, a Seoul official said Saturday, as a U.N. special rapporteur saw "no improvement" in human rights under the North's new leadership.
Seoul raised the issue of Pyongyang's human rights record at the Friday meeting of the U.N. General Assembly's Third Committee, which focuses on human rights issues, in New York, the foreign ministry official said.
In a report to the Third Committee meeting, U.N. special rapporteur on the North's human rights Marzuki Darusman, said, "Overall, there was no improvement in the human rights situation in the DPRK (North Korea)." Darsuman also urged the North to divert money from its military to help improve the livelihoods of its general populace.
South Korea "welcomed a plan by Darusman to further review North Korea's political prison camps and urged North Korea to implement his recommendations" at the U.N. meeting, the official said on the condition of anonymity.
North Korea has long been labeled one of the worst human rights violators in the world. The regime does not tolerate dissent, holds hundreds of thousands of people in political prison camps and keeps tight control over outside information.
While North Korea has officially denied the existence of political prison camps, Pyongyang is believed to have up to 200,000 people in hidden, Soviet-style gulags where torture and executions are routine and starvation is widespread.
Pyongyang has bristled at any criticism of its human rights record, however, denouncing such talk as part of U.S.-led attempts to topple the regime. (Yonhap)
정부가 2일(현지시각) 미국 뉴욕에서 열린 제67차 유엔 총회에서 북한인권 문제를 제기했다고 외교통상부가 3일 밝혔다.
우리 정부대표인 신동익 주유엔대표부 차석대사는 유엔총회 제3위원회 마르주키 다루스만 유엔 북한인권특별보고관과의 토의에서 탈북자 '강제송환 금지원칙'의 준수를 촉구했다.
신 대사는 북한 정치범수용소 문제를 더 검토하겠다는 다루스만 보고관의 계획을 환영하면서 신숙자씨 모녀 등 연좌제에 따른 수감자를 석방하라는 보고관 권고를 북한이 이행하라고 촉구했다.
그는 또 다루스만 보고관이 식량문제를 비롯한 인도적 위기를 해결하기 위해 정책을 개선하라고 북한 정부에 촉구한 데 대해 공감을 나타냈다.
이날 토의는 다루스만 보고관이 유엔 총회에 제출한 북한인권상황 보고서를 토대로 이뤄졌다. 다루스만 보고관은 이 보고서에서 북한의 인권상황이 지속적으로 악화하고 있다고 평가했다.(연합뉴스)
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