The UN blasted North Korea for focusing on increasing its weapons stockpile while its population strains under a food and economic crisis.
Militarisation and Human Rights
After reciting a long list of rights abuses in the country, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said in a statement that many of them “stem directly from, or support, the increasing militarisation of [North Korea].”
The UN rights chief spoke of “the widespread use of forced labour, including in political prison camps, by children forced to collect harvests and the confiscation of overseas workers’ wages,” all of which aimed to support the country’s imperative to “build weapons.”
Rarely has the #DPRK been more painfully closed to the outside world than it is today. We hope that #NorthKorea will re-open to the world, paving the way for other forms of interactions with the United Nations. Statement by UN Human Rights Chief @volker_turk:… pic.twitter.com/1FmAIi9rSD
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) August 17, 2023
Türk also cited information gathered by his office, which he said indicated an increase in the “repression of the rights to freedom of expression, privacy and movement; the persistence of widespread forced labour practices; and a worsening situation for economic and social rights due to the closure of markets and other forms of income generation.”
Against this backdrop, the diplomat made three requests to the Kim Jong-un regime and the international community:
- Pyongyang must allow the UN Country Team to enter its borders, calling the move “crucial to advancing coordinated work to address the suffering of the people.”
- Accountability for victims of rights abuses, via both the International Criminal Court and “truth-telling, the recovery of remains and reparations programmes.”
- Member countries must prevent North Koreans from being repatriated involuntarily “and provide them with the required protections and humanitarian support.”
Türk’s argument was reiterated by the UN independent human rights expert, Elizabeth Salmón, who told ambassadors that leaders of North Korea have repeatedly asked citizens to “tighten their belts” to the “point of starvation” in some cases, “so that the available resources could be used to fund the nuclear and missile programmes.”
China opposes the deliberation of the human rights situation in North Korea at the UN Security Council, and China's position is very clear, said Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, according to the website of the Permanent Mission of China… pic.twitter.com/UDxHA2JOLN
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) August 18, 2023
Russia and China
While there was no representative from Pyongyang at the Security Council, delegates from China and Russia said the discussion was unconstructive and offered no solutions to the crisis.
Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, denounced what he said was “a cynical and hypocritical attempt by the US and its allies to advance their own political agenda.”