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| Choe Myong-nam, left, a North Korean official in charge of U.N. affairs and human rights, confers with his delegation during a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly human rights committee, Tuesday. / AP-Yonhap |
Seoul engages in balancing act
By Yi Whan-woo
The United Nations' adoption of a resolution against North Korea is forcing the government to perform a balancing act — joining international condemnation against the rogue state, while keeping open the possibility of dialogue with it.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Unification provided a nuanced response in the wake of the U.N.'s move, Wednesday (KST), to refer the regime in North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-un to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for state-perpetrated violations of human rights.
"We expect Pyongyang to improve its dire human rights record in accordance with this year's resolution," read a statement from the foreign ministry which also welcomed the U.N. General Assembly's request to the Security Council (UNSC) to refer Kim to the ICC in The Hague, the Netherlands.
Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol said, "We are still ready to resume high-level inter-Korean talks as long as Pyongyang shows sincerity."
He referred to the halting of high-level talks between the two countries after their first meeting on Oct. 4.
Prior to the vote, North Korean official Choe Myong-nam, while at the U.N. General Assembly, threatened that more nuclear testing will be conducted by the repressive regime.
The resolution is not legally binding. But Pyongyang reacted more strongly than before because it contains a clause calling for Kim, who has been deified by the reclusive regime, to stand trial.
Yang Moo-jin at the University of North Korean Studies said the foreign ministry's welcoming statement was not prudent, since it could provoke Pyongyang and that the South is likely to take the brunt of whatever follows.
"As a member of the international community, it's important for us to join with the U.N. to improve North Korea's abysmal human rights conditions," he said.
"However, it's also crucial for us to try to maintain a close relationship with Pyongyang for inter-Korean unification.
"It was unnecessary to use the word ‘welcome' to express our will to join the U.N.'s move. It's likely that inter-Korean relations will stagger for the time being."
Yang cited that Pyongyang accused the European Union and Japan, which drafted and submitted the motion condemning the North to the U.N., of showing "subservience and sycophancy" to the United States.
The EU and Japan first circulated a draft resolution on Oct. 9. The U.S. is one of the resolution's co-sponsors.
North Korea promised that there would "unpredictable and serious consequences" if the resolution went forward.
In a statement, the EU welcomed the support of 111 countries, including South Korea, who voted in favor of the motion. Nineteen countries including China, Russia, Cuba, and Venezuela, voted against, and 55 abstained.
"It is admirable that the member states of the U.N. are acting to protect the people of North Korea when their own government fails to do so," Michael Kirby, the head of a Commission of Inquiry on the North, said in an email to the Associated Press. Kirby added that he is confident the Security Council will "act responsibly."
It remains to be seen whether China and Russia, two of the five permanent UNSC members, will use their veto power to block any move against Pyongyang.
Meanwhile, the U.N.'s human rights committee voted down an amendment proposed by Cuba to prevent North Korea being accused of crimes against humanity.
It put forward a revised draft last week and stripped out the part that calls for referring Kim to the ICC.
Based on the U.N. COI's report released in February, the resolution holds North Korean leaders, including Kim, responsible for running political prison camps where up to 120,000 people are thought to be detained.
The U.N. General Assembly will take a vote in the coming weeks to decide whether to pursue the resolution.
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