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Wednesday, November 28, 2018, 10:32
DPRK criticizes US for seeking UN meeting on rights
By Associated Press
Wednesday, November 28, 2018, 10:32 By Associated Press

This Sept 20, 2018, photo shows the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song at the UN headquarters. DPRK is accusing the Trump administration and its supporters of trying to "stoke confrontation" instead of promoting peace efforts by calling for a UN Security Council meeting to discuss human rights in the country. (KYODO NEWS VIA AP)

UNITED NATIONS — The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is accusing the Trump administration and some supporters of trying to "stoke confrontation" instead of promoting peace efforts by calling for a UN Security Council meeting to discuss human rights in the country.

Nonetheless, to our deep surprise and regret, the Security Council is about to swim against the current trend by way of seeking to irritate a dialogue counterpart and stoke confrontation

Kim Song,

DPRK's UN Ambassador

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DPRK's UN Ambassador Kim Song said in a letter obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press that the US and other unnamed countries "are trying to employ all possible wicked and sinister methods" to hold a council meeting on Dec. 10 and have UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet address it.

Kim sent letters to all council members except the US urging them to vote against holding a meeting on human rights in the DPRK. He sent similar letters to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and General Assembly President Maria Espinosa Garces.

The Security Council has discussed human rights in the DPRK for the past four years. Each meeting went ahead only after a procedural vote in the 15-member council, where at least nine "yes" votes are needed to hold the session.

Earlier this month, the UN General Assembly's human rights committee adopted a resolution by consensus condemning DPRK's "longstanding and ongoing systematic, widespread and gross violations of human rights" and strongly urging its government to immediately end the abuses. It is certain to be approved by the 193-member assembly in December.

In October, the UN independent investigator on human rights in the isolated Asian nation said DPRK leader Kim Jong-un's summits with the presidents of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the US have not changed his country's abysmal human rights record. Tomas Ojea Quintana pointed to reports of "systematic, widespread abuses" of human rights and a UN commission of inquiry's findings in 2014 that possible crimes against humanity have been committed in the DPRK.

Relations between the two Koreas have improved since Kim Jong-un reached out to ROK and the US early this year with a vague promise to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. US-DPRK talks on the DPRK's nuclear program haven't produced much progress since Kim and US President Donald Trump held the countries' first summit in Singapore in June. A second summit is expected to take place next year.

IN PHOTOS: Trump, Kim in historic Singapore summit

Ambassador Kim's letter recalled that "until last year, the Korean peninsula was a region where possibility of an armed conflict and a nuclear war ran higher than any other region in the world."

"But, thanks to the peace-loving efforts of the DPRK, the atmosphere of peace and stability has recently settled down in the Korean peninsula," he said.

"Nonetheless, to our deep surprise and regret, the Security Council is about to swim against the current trend by way of seeking to irritate a dialogue counterpart and stoke confrontation, instead of encouraging and promoting the ongoing positive developments," the DPRK ambassador said.

Kim called the US move to put the issue on the council agenda "a provocation."

He demanded that human rights be discussed at the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, not at the Security Council, "far away from its mission and mandate for maintaining world peace and security."

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