N.K. human rights issue likely to be on U.N. Security Council agenda

The permanent members of the U.N. Security Council including the U.S., Japan and France and the non-permanent members including Korea and Australia officially proposed Chad, the chair country in December, to put North Korea’s human rights issue on the agenda

It seems certain that North Korean human rights issue would be an official agenda of the U.N. Security Council for the first time in history. It will be likely to be between Dec. 8 and 12 before the adoption of the U.N. Resolution on North Korean human rights, which include the clause on the referral to the International Criminal Court on North Korea’s human rights conditions (expected to be Dec. 18 or 19)

A high-ranking source of the U.N. said on Monday, “Chad, the presidency of the U.N. Security Council, prepared a monthly program for Dec. without including North Korea’s human rights issue in the agenda. Then, Korea and the U.S. asked it to put North Korea’s human rights conditions on the agenda in December.” A presidency is taken by a country for a month in an alphabetical order and the presidency has a separate meeting with other U.N. Security Council members on the first day of each month. Oh Joon, Korean ambassador to the U.N. met with Chad’s ambassador Cherif Mahamat Zene, the presidency of the U.N. Security Council, on Monday and requested to put North Korea’s human rights issue on the agenda, according to sources from the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations. Ambassadors to the U.N. from the U.S., the U.K., France, and Australia are also said to have delivered the same message to him.

As putting it on the U.N. Security Council agenda is a technical issue, the veto rights of permanent members do not apply and it requires consent from at least nine countries out of 15 member countries. Out of 15 U.N. Security Council members, only three countries – China, Russia, and Nigeria – voted against or abstained the North Korea human rights resolution which passed the third committee of the U.N. General Assembly on Nov. 18 with an overwhelming consent -- by a vote of 111 to 19, with 55 abstentions.

U.N. sources said, “The request on North Korea’s human rights issue was made in December. As the votes for the resolution in the third committee was more than what the countries that proposed the resolution expected and thus there is no need to wait for the voting in the general meeting. Further, the composition of U.N. Security Council will become unfavorable to putting it on the agenda next year.” In January next year, the countries that led the North Korea human rights issue such as Korea and Australia will be leave and Venezuela, a country that opposed the resolution, and Angola and Malaysia which abstained will become member countries. Then, the number of countries that either voted against or abstained on the human rights resolution will double to six out of 15 Security Council members.