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Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged North Korea to enter into dialogue with the international community on its human rights record. Ban was speaking at the inaugural meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
"South Korea fully shares the concerns of the international community¡± over North Korea¡¯s human rights issues, Ban said in a keynote address. He said Seoul expressed these concerns to the North in inter-Korean ministerial meetings. "We urge North Korea to enter into dialogue about human rights with the international community, which could lead to technical and systematic cooperation with the country," he said.
The remarks by Ban, who is eyeing the top UN post, represent a departure for South Korea by singling out the North without lumping it with other offenders like Burma. South Korea has been criticized for its passivity over human rights abuses in the Stalinist country on the international stage.
"The government has made progress in its position on the issue by taking issue with North Korea¡¯s human rights record at a global event,¡± a government official said. South Korea has been absent or abstained since 2003 whenever the UN adopted resolutions on North Korea¡¯s human rights violations.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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