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UN secretary-general-designate Ban Ki-moon on Sunday called for a ¡°more proactive position¡± from Seoul on North Korea's human rights issues. Ban said the international community ¡°has great expectations in that regard, despite the special circumstances the nation is facing on the Korean Peninsula.¡± The outgoing foreign minister made the remarks when asked about a fresh EU resolution calling for the UN Secretariat to investigate abuses in the Stalinist country, which the general Assembly is to vote on at the end of the week. South Korea has an unbroken record of abstention or absenteeism at such UN votes.
"I will do my best to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis peacefully within my authority as UN secretary-general,¡± Ban vowed. A UN North Korea envoy will be appointed ¡°depending on how the planned six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program progress,¡± he said. ¡°The envoy will be an expert on issues involving the two Koreas from a third country." Ban said UN measures against North Korea are not ¡°sanctions for sanctions¡¯ sake but rather one of the policy tools necessary to persuade the North to dismantle its nuclear program." The future UN chief added the UN would ¡°adjust¡± sanctions against Pyongyang depending on how well the North implements a statement of principles agreed on in the six-party talks in Beijing last year, where it promised to give up its nuclear program in return for economic aid.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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