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The government¡¯s decision to abstain from voting at the UN General Assembly on an EU-sponsored resolution condemning North Korea¡¯s human rights violations was both prudent and considerate, ruling Uri Party spokesperson Jun Byung-hun said Friday.
In a briefing, Jun said that dialogue and cooperation was likely to be more successful in prodding Pyongyang to open its country and join the international community than the use of coercive pressure. He presented an argument built on helping the North create an environment where it could gradually improve its human rights conditions.
Jun's Uri Party colleague, Rep. Choi Sung, concurred. ¡°It is significant that half of the UN member countries attending the vote opposed the resolution or abstained from voting, thus supporting the view that the North Korean human rights issue should be carefully tackled in order to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula,¡± he said.
The vote results seemed to contradict claims by the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) that the whole world denounces human rights violations in North Korea with a single voice. Choi also cautioned against exploiting the issue to serve any political agenda.
The GNP criticized the government¡¯s abstention in a statement, saying that Korea would be recorded in history as a backward country in terms of human rights development.
¡°The government has turned a blind eye to the human rights abuse of North Koreans while trying not to hurt the feelings of the North Korean government. The ruling party and government should be held responsible for the decision,¡± Na Kyung-won, GNP deputy speaker in charge of public relations, said.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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