By Kang Seung-woo
North Korea’s appalling record on human rights is expected to again come under scrutiny at the upcoming U.N. General Assembly (UNGA).
A high-level meeting to discuss the subject will be held on the sidelines of the Assembly’s 69th session, which will start on Tuesday.
Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and other foreign ministers from Japan and major European countries are expected to attend.
It will be the first time that a ministerial meeting on the North’s human rights record has taken place on the sidelines.
The North plans to defend itself by sending Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong, who will give a keynote speech on Sept. 30. He will be the first North Korean foreign minister to visit the U.S. in 15 years.
The meeting comes months after the U.N. Committee of Inquiry (COI) concluded in February’s report that the North’s leadership was committing crimes against humanity on an unprecedented scale. The report also included a recommendation that the U.N. should refer the details to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and have those responsible prosecuted, including North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Kerry also urged the North Korean regime last month to shut down its political prison camps immediately, saying that such violations of human rights had “no place in the 21st century” ― the first time that a U.S. Secretary of State has referred to the issue in public.
Sydney Seiler, the new U.S. special envoy for the six-party denuclearization talks backed Kerry’s statement, saying the U.S. will deal with the North’s human rights issues and nuclear programs in a two-track strategy.
The U.S. action comes as the U.N. assembly will shed new light on the COI report and likely adopt a U.N. resolution.
The Korean government is set to participate in the U.S. drive.
Hwang Joon-kook, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, met U.S. counterpart Glyn Davies in Washington last week, with both countries agreeing to flex their muscles to improve the human rights situation in Pyongyang.
President Park Geun-hye is scheduled to address the assembly on Sept. 24 and her speech will deal with the issue.
Meanwhile, the meeting is expected to bring a backlash from the North, which has already started to deny the U.S. claims, calling them a bid to bring down its social system and ideology.
On Saturday, the country issued its own assessment of its policies that guarantee genuine rights of the people.
According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the five-chapter report reflects the characteristics of the socialist system, the human rights policy pursued in North Korea and its actual human rights performance.
The paper aims “to help the public properly know about the efforts exerted by the country to protect and promote human rights, to lay bare the false and reactionary nature of the reckless anti-North Korean human rights racket and to wipe out prejudice and misunderstanding.”