NORTH KOREA-RIGHTS/UN OFFICE U.N. rights chief calls N. Korea "another world" of repression as rights office opens in Seoul

Record ID: 151968

  • Title: NORTH KOREA-RIGHTS/UN OFFICE U.N. rights chief calls N. Korea "another world" of repression as rights office opens in Seoul
  • Date: 23rd June 2015
  • Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (JUNE 23, 2015) (AGENCY POOL) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** SOUTH KOREAN FOREIGN MINISTER YUN BYUNG-SE WALKING TOWARD UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ZEID RA'AD AL-HUSSEIN AT OPENING CEREMONY VENUE / ZEID (LEFT) AND YUN (RIGHT) SHAKING HANDS AND POSING FOR PHOTO ZEID (LEFT) AND YUN (RIGHT) SHAKING HANDS AND POSING FOR PHOTO VARIOUS OF ZE
  • Embargoed: 8th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAC3OU9OYXI323WBSJN9FX8UBCT
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The United Nations on Tuesday (June 23) opened a field office in Seoul to investigate human rights abuses in North Korea, a plan that has drawn anger from Pyongyang, which has denied any rights abuses and called the charge an attack against its regime.
    "Friends less than 50 miles (80 km) from here lie another world marked by utmost repression and deprivation," Zeid Ra'ad Al-Hussein, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said at the opening.
    "The Seoul office will monitor and document human rights issues in the DPRK, building on the landmark work of the commission of inquiry and special rapporteur. We firmly believe this will help lay the basis for future accountability," Zeid added.
    A U.N. Commission of Inquiry report last year detailed abuses in North Korea that it said were comparable to Nazi-era atrocities.
    Pyongyang has accused South Korea of a conspiracy to undermine its leadership by agreeing to host the rights office, calling it an open declaration of war.
    The U.N. Security Council added the issue of rights in North Korea to its agenda in December, backed by a U.N. General Assembly vote that called for the referral of the state to an international tribunal.
    North Korea has rejected the U.N. move, calling it a politically motivated plot.
    A referral to the International Criminal Court is widely seen as unlikely because China would be expected to use its Security Council veto power to block such a move.
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