The UN Deputy Commissioner for Human Rights, Kang Kyung Hwa has criticized the blanket refusal of the North Korean regime to allow its human rights status to be addressed directly, saying yesterday, “The international community (UN) finds it very unfortunate that direct access to information is impossible.”
Kang, who is in Seoul to attend an international conference commemorating the 20th anniversary of South Korea joining the UN, met reporters on the 14th at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
“Even though the UN Human Rights Council adopts the North Korean Human Rights Resolution every year to urge the North to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur, North Korea does not accept the resolution itself,” she lamented.
She went on critically, “If you are a member of the international community, it is your fundamental duty to cooperate with mechanisms created according to the decisions of the international community.”
Meanwhile, criticized for the fact that UN Human Rights Council annual reports do not take dictatorships which do not allow the Rapporteur’s activities in their countries into account, Kang admitted, “It is true that there are fundamental limits.”
However, she added, “The UN has a critical mind. The international community is also sorry that it cannot submit a report on a country that it cannot access information about.”
Kang Kyung Hwa was appointed Deputy Commissioner in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the highest UN position held by a South Korean woman, in 2007.
