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NK vows 'merciless' steps against UN office
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in the left photo, visits an anti-aircraft artillery unit on June 18 as part of his routine field inspections without wearing the badges of former leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. This is in contrast with the May 23 photo, right, in which he wears the badges on the chest during a visit to a military fish farm. The difference led to speculation that the young leader has launched an effort to stand on his own rather than leaning on the former leaders’ legacy. / Yonhap
By Jun Ji-hye
By Jun Ji-hye
North Korea is threatening that it will take “merciless’’ measures against the planned opening of a United Nations office in Seoul to monitor human rights in the repressive state.
The U.N. will open the field office to exclusively investigate Pyongyang’s state-perpetrated violations of human rights in Seoul on Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Pyongyang claims this amounts to interference in the North’s domestic affairs.
“If the U.N. office is set up in Seoul, we will regard it as a proclamation of battle, and punish mercilessly it by every means,” said North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland.
The powerful party organization called for stopping the plan, claiming that the opening will lead to the “miserable demise” of the Park Geun-hye government.
“North Korean people are enjoying all rights under the socialist system,” it said.
Kim Young-ho, a councilor at the North’s U.N. mission in Geneva, also told the U.N. Human Rights Council on June 15 that the establishment of the U.N. presence in Seoul is not related to sincere human rights. “But it is a political intrigue to overthrow the North Korean system,” he said.
Experts say such resistance and criticism will intensify further once the office is established.
Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korean studies professor at Dongguk University, said, “The North has been sensitive about the international move on its human rights issue, as it has claimed it guarantees human rights of its people.”
The professor noted that the isolated state will likely take the opening as an excuse to express other complaints because it has seen little progress in relations with global society as well as with the South.
Inter-Korean relations have been frustrating. A joint event pushed ahead by private organizations from the two sides to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the June 15 South-North Joint Declaration eventually foundered due to the strained inter-Korean ties.
The repressive state on June 15 made a proposal that it is open for talks if certain conditions were met. But the attempt for inter-Korean talks has made slow progress with Seoul demanding that Pyongyang come to the table unconditionally.
The two sides will also face various hurdles in their bids to hold a joint event to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s colonial rule, experts said.
According to diplomatic sources, five to six officials of the U.N.’s Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR) are expected to work at the agency’s permanent mission in the South Korean capital.
The U.N. has pressed the Stalinist state to improve its dire human rights record, in particular the brutality of its concentration camps and the sadistic public executions of its people. But the repressive regime has denied the international community’s accusations.
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