UN committee adopts resolution on N. Korean human rights backed by S. Korea, US

U.N. headquarters in New York City, Sept. 27 / Reuters-Yonhap

A U.N. committee has adopted by consensus a resolution condemning widespread human rights violations in North Korea, the foreign ministry said Thursday, with the backing of more than 60 member states, including South Korea and the United States.

The U.N. General Assembly Third Committee handling human rights issues adopted the resolution, co-sponsored by 61 countries, during a meeting in New York on Wednesday (local time), the ministry said in a release.

The resolution will be reviewed at the upcoming General Assembly plenary next month for final adoption.

South Korea, led by the liberal government of President Lee Jae Myung, was among the first 41 member states supporting the draft resolution despite its push for rapprochement with Pyongyang, with the position that it will approach the North's human rights issues as a matter of universal principle.

The U.S., which was not initially among the co-sponsoring nations, later joined the group that includes Australia, Britain, France and Japan, among others.

The resolution, introduced for 21 straight years, condemns "in the strongest terms" the longstanding, systematic and gross violations of human rights in and by North Korea, including those that may amount to crimes against humanity.

It also condemns the North for "continuing to divert a disproportionate amount of its resources into military spending and the pursuit of its unlawful nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs over the welfare of its people."

The resolution encourages diplomatic efforts, stressing the importance of dialogue and engagement, including inter-Korean talks, to seek improvement of the human rights and the humanitarian situation in the reclusive state.

"The ROK government will continue its close cooperation with the international community for the substantive enhancement of human rights of DPRK people," the ministry said.

ROK is short for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea. DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

North Korea has bristled at past resolutions, calling them a "politically motivated provocation" encroaching upon its sovereignty.