Europeans, US accuse North Korea of using COVID-19 pandemic to crack down on rights
12 December, 2020
The United Nations Security Council discussed on Friday (Dec 11) human rights abuses in North Korea following the issue grew up by seven members who accused Pyongyang of using the coronavirus pandemic "to crack down further on the human rights of its people."
Germany, Britain, France, Belgium, Estonia, America and the Dominican Republic raised the issue in a good closed-door virtual assembly after diplomats said Russia and China objected to a good public briefing on the problem.
"The DPRK's human rights violations pose an imminent threat to international peace and security. The DPRK authorities diverts resources from its persons to its illicit ballistic missile and nuclear programs," the seven countries explained in a statement, reading by German UN Ambassador Christoph Heusgen.
North Korea's formal name may be the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). North Korea's UN mission in NY did not immediately react to a request for comment on the Security Council assembly.
North Korea has repeatedly rejected accusations of human rights abuses and blames sanctions for a good dire humanitarian situation. Pyongyang provides been under UN sanctions since 2006 over its ballistic missiles and nuclear programs.
"The government's decision to prioritise its weapons programs over the desires of its people and their isolation from the international community, is inevitably worsening the impacts of the pandemic on the North Korean population," Heusgen said.
Between 2014 and 2017 the Security Council placed gross annual public meetings on human rights abuses in North Korea.
In 2018 the council didn't discuss the problem amid now failed efforts by North Korea leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump to work toward Pyongyang's denuclearization.
This past year at least eight council members pushed for a gathering over human rights abuses, sparking Pyongyang to warn it would consider such a move a "serious provocation" to which it could "respond strongly."
The United States instead convened a meeting on the threat of escalation by North Korea amid growing tensions between Pyongyang and Washington.
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