hankyoreh

Sept. 23. (captured from YTN)

By Park Hyun, Washington correspondent

Ri Su-yong‘s recent visit to the United Nations General Assembly is the first in fifteen years for a North Korean Foreign Minister. It was expected to be an opening to possible dialogue with the US and/or South Korea. Instead, it’s turning into a battleground.

On the morning of Sept. 23, the US organized a senior-level meeting on the North Korean human rights situation at a hotel near the UN headquarters in New York. Because of the busy schedules of the attending government ministers, it lasted only 30 minutes, but it was also presided over by US Secretary of State John Kerry - a signal of the issue’s major importance in Washington. “We say to the North Korean government, all of us here today, you should close those camps, you should shut this evil system down,” Kerry said in his address.

South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida also addressed the North Korean human rights issue.

Analysts saw the meeting an attempt to ratchet up international pressure on Pyongyang by bringing up human rights concerns during a General Assembly period. Yun Byung-se also attended and spoke at the gathering.

North Korea responded by officially requesting that the US, as host country, allow North Korean representatives to attend. North Korean UN ambassador Ja Song-nam, who typically shuns interview requests, met with reporters on Sept. 22 to argue for the “need for North Korea to attend and voice its position at a gathering to discuss its own human rights situation.”

“We made a request to attend with the US, and we are still awaiting a reply,” Ja added.

“If the US truly wishes to resolve the situation through dialogue, we don’t see any reason why it should oppose our intention to attend,” he continued.

Washington eventually refused the request. While it could not have been turned down if the event were organized by the UN, the US-organized meeting was invitation only.

“North Korea has utterly rejected the investigation findings, claiming that the violations mentioned in the UN Human Rights Report do not exist there,” explained a US State Department Bureau of Public Affairs official when asked about the matter by the Hankyoreh’s Washington correspondent.

“If you consider that the meeting welcomed the findings in the UN Human Rights Report, it would be inappropriate for North Korea to attend without acknowledging the report and promising to follow its recommendations,” the source added.

Rejecting North Korea’s suggestion may not help Washington’s image, but the main factor in the decision appears to have been concerns that the event could end up turning into a clash with Pyongyang. The pressure tactics also suggest that North Korea and the US are running into problems in their back-channel talks over the possible release of three American detainees, including missionary Kenneth Bae.

Observers said the chances of any behind-the-scenes inter-Korean meetings at the assembly are slim to none. Ja, who has said he feels it is inappropriate for other countries to meet to talk about inter-Korean issues, voiced a preference for “people of the same country to meet in the same country to talk” - a signal that he would not pursue or agree to a meeting between South and North Korean foreign ministers. Seoul is also showing no signs yet of pushing for a minister-level meeting.

The possibility of a meeting during the UN General Assembly was broached on Sept. 17 when President Park Geun-hye said in an interview with Reuters that “[i]f the opportunity [for a ministerial meeting] does arise . . . I think such opportunities would be a good thing.”

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]