Pres. Park hopes China won’t veto UN N. Korea human rights report

Posted on : 2014-03-25 12:00 KST Modified on : 2014-03-25 12:00 KST
In interview with Dutch public broadcaster, Park also urges coordination to deal with N. Korea nuclear issue
 Mar. 24. (Yonhap News)
Mar. 24. (Yonhap News)

By Seok Jin-hwan, Blue House correspondent

President Park Geun-hye urged the Chinese government not to veto a final report by the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea (COI).

Appearing in an interview on Mar. 23 with the Nederlandse Omroep Stichting public broadcasting network in the Netherlands, Park was asked whether she would be “disappointed” if China exercised its authority to veto a resolution on North Korean human rights.

“I am confident the impact on North Korean rights would be more powerful if China does not exercise its veto power,” she replied.

Park is currently in The Hague to attend the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit.

Her remarks were taken as a response to Beijing hinting on Mar. 18 that it might exercise its veto power, expressing “opposition to the use of ‘human rights’ as a pretext for interfering in another country’s internal affairs.”

“China may react sensitively, but President Park’s intention is to stick to a principled approach on North Korean human rights, which have become a major issue for the international community recently,” explained the Blue House.

Also in the interview, Park proposed having the international community conduct a “pilot project” for resolving the issue of North Korea’s nuclear program. The idea involves developing a test case for addressing a specific issue, which would then be used as a model for managing similar situations.

“The nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula is serious, but if we develop denuclearization into something like a global ‘pilot project,’ and if the whole world joins forces with the goal of achieving the start of a world free of nuclear weapons, then I believe that it is possible,” she said.

She went on to say that the denuclearization of North Korea “is achievable if the whole world coordinates without any weak links, if it is united behind the clear message that it will definitely help economic development if North Korea makes the right choice.”

“But if the coordination breaks down and starts trickling away here and there, it will lose its strength,” she added. “That’s why I’m emphasizing coordination.”

Park also cautioned about the possibility of North Korea transferring nuclear materials, and of those materials being used in terror attacks.

“Because there are so many nuclear facilities located at Yongbyon [in North Korea], there is the risk that a fire in just a single building there could lead to a nuclear catastrophe larger than Chernobyl,” she warned.

 

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