UNSC to meet on human rights situation in North Korea

By Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - US, Albania, Japan and South Korea said Thursday they requested a UN Security Council meeting next week to discuss the human rights situation in North Korea, a move that is likely to face opposition from Russia and China.

The meeting which would take place Aug. 17, will be the first open briefing on the human rights situation in North Korea since 2017.

The Council will receive a briefing from the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in North Korea Elizabeth Salmon, and a civil society briefer, according to a joint statement delivered by Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US envoy to the UN on behalf of Albania, Japan, South Korea and the US.

"Protecting people around the world is an integral part of the UN Charter and an important responsibility of the Security Council. And that means holding the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) regime accountable for its human rights abuses and violations," it said.

"The Council must address the horrors, the abuses, and crimes being perpetrated daily by the Kim (Jong Un) regime against its own citizens – and people from other Member States, including Japan and Republic of Korea," it added.