A representative for China’s U.N. mission in New York said on Monday China opposes a scheduled Security Council meeting on North Korea’s human rights violations because it will intensify confrontation and antagonism.
The meeting, which will take place on Thursday, was requested by the United States, Albania, and Japan. It will be the 15-member council’s first formal public meeting on the subject since 2017.
“China sees no added value for the council to have such a meeting and will be against it”, said a spokesperson for China’s UN mission, adding that the council’s mandate was the maintenance of international peace and security, not human rights.
“A council meeting on human rights in the DPRK falls outside the council’s mandate, politicizes human rights issues, and only serves to intensify confrontation and antagonism”, the spokesperson said, referring to the country’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
As South Korea and the United States prepare for yearly military drills, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has requested an increase in missile production to assist defend overwhelming military force and be prepared for conflict.
It was unclear whether China would seek a procedural vote on Thursday to try to stop the Security Council meeting on human rights abuses, but a senior US official said they were confident they had the necessary nine votes to proceed. Vetoes are not allowed on procedural concerns.
North Korea has regularly denied allegations of human rights violations, blaming sanctions for the grave humanitarian situation. It has been sanctioned by the United Nations for its ballistic missile and nuclear programmes since 2006, but there are aid exemptions.
In March, the US accused China of seeking to conceal North Korea’s crimes by blocking the webcast of an informal discussion of Security Council members on Pyongyang’s human rights violations.
For the past three years, the council has had annual formal sessions on the subject, but behind closed doors. Between 2014 and 2017, the council convened annual public meetings on North Korean human rights violations.
An important United Nations study on North Korean human rights in 2014 found that North Korean security officers, and potentially leader Kim should face prosecution for overseeing a state-controlled system of Nazi-style atrocities. In 2016, the United States sanctioned Kim for human rights violations.
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