North Korea has offered to invite the top U.N. human rights official to Pyongyang if the European Union drops any mention of referring the country’s leader to the International Criminal Court from a U.N. human rights resolution, a news report said.
The North made the offer via Cuba earlier this month, saying it would invite the U.N. high commissioner for human rights to discuss the situation in exchange for EU assurances that the “North Korean leader would be off-limits,” Foreign Policy magazine has reported.
“The Cubans came forward with a proposal to drop the ICC referral from our text. In exchange, they would accept a visit from the high commissioner for human rights,” an EU diplomat was quoted as saying. “The reaction was very negative to such a deal. We don’t trust them.”
China subsequently delivered the same offer to the EU, the report said.
North Korea has been scrambling to tone down the EU-proposed U.N. General Assembly resolution that calls reportedly for referring to the ICC North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and other top officials responsible for human rights abuses in the totalitarian nation.
The North has been making such efforts even though the chances of Kim’s referral to the ICC are slim as U.N. General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding. Moreover, the chances of the proposed resolution passing through the U.N. Security Council are considered even slimmer because China is sure to veto it.
That shows the importance the regime in Pyongyang attaches to the image of its supreme leader.
North Korea has long been labeled as one of the worst human rights violators in the world. The communist regime does not tolerate dissent, holds hundreds of thousands of people in political prison camps and keeps tight control over outside information.
But Pyongyang has bristled at any talk of its human rights conditions, calling it a U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime.
Last month, the North released its own human rights report, claiming the country has the world’s most advantageous human rights system and policies.
This year, the issue has drawn greater international attention since the U.N. Commission of Inquiry issued a report in February, saying that North Korean leaders are responsible for “widespread, systematic and gross” violations of human rights.
The report also said the International Criminal Court should handle North Korea’s “crimes against humanity.” (Yonhap)
