UN human rights resolution on North Korea tests Moon's diplomacy
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| A North Korea flag flutters next to concertina wire at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur in this March 9, 2017, file photo. Reuters-Yonhap |
By Nam Hyun-woo
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Diplomatic observers said this comes as a test for the foreign policy of the Moon Jae-in administration, which has been trying hard to resume dialogue with the North. To revive an atmosphere of inter-Korean rapprochement, while not hurting South Korea-U.S. relations, Moon needs to convince U.S. President Joe Biden that the North Korea issue needs to be addressed through exceptional means, diplomatic observers added.
The United Nations Human Rights Council held its 46th session in Geneva on Tuesday (local time) and adopted the resolution by consensus.
The UNHRC's resolution "condemns in the strongest terms the long-standing and ongoing systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations and other human rights abuses committed in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and expresses again its grave concern" over the human rights situation in the regime.
The content of the latest resolution is generally similar to the previous version, but a big difference is that the U.S. has participated as a co-sponsor.
The U.S. withdrew from the Human Rights Council in June 2018 during the Donald Trump administration, and also did not participate in the 2019 and 2020 human rights resolutions on North Korea.
However, the U.S. returned to the Human Rights Council under incumbent President Joe Biden, who has pledged to put human rights back at the core of America's foreign policy, as he stepped into office. Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke about human rights violations in North Korea in a video message.
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| President Moon Jae-in takes off his face mask during a meeting with aides at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. Yonhap |
The U.S. has changed its stance, but the Moon administration is maintaining an equivocal position over the human rights issue in the North.
In adopting the fresh resolution, South Korea took part in making the consensus, but did not participate as a co-sponsor of the resolution, which is a stance that the Moon administration has been maintaining for the past three years.
"It is true that we (Korea) did not participate in co-sponsoring the resolution after taking the situation on the Korean Peninsula into account," a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said. "However, it is also important that we have joined the consensus."
When asked if the Korean government is changing its stance, the official said, "We are not in a situation to answer whether our stance has changed or not." But the official added, "The ministry welcomes the U.S. participation in the resolution and becoming active in human rights issues again."
Researchers said the U.S. participation in the resolution is being interpreted as the Biden administration's efforts to restore its presence on the global diplomatic stage, rather than being a targeted move specifically aimed at North Korea.
"Recent moves by the Biden administration appear to be aimed at restoring America's diplomatic presence, which was weakened during the previous Trump administration," Asan Institute for Policy Studies Senior Fellow Go Myong-hyun said.
"Having a stronger say in human rights or other issues which Biden believes are American values seems to be the diplomatic doctrine of the new president. And this comes as a source of huge pressure for South Korea, whether the U.S. intended or not."
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| A mock North Korea's Scud-B missile, center right, and South Korean missiles are displayed at the Korea War Memorial Museum in Seoul, Thursday, March 18. AP-Yonhap |
Trump's "America First" agenda has been criticized by the opposition as an isolationist move that weakened cooperation between the U.S. and its treaty partners and allies. This was coupled with the administration's scarce attention to human rights compared to other priorities, and the Moon administration was also less concerned about touching on the human rights issue in the North. North Korea has always bristled at any criticism against its human rights track record.
As the Biden administration is reversing what Trump has done, however, the Moon government is now facing growing pressures to voice its stance regarding human rights in North Korea, while the regime is already reacting with belligerence by firing short-range missiles on Sunday. The North on Thursday fired two projectiles suspected to be ballistic missiles, marking the first such test this year.
Go said the South Korean government is in a position to seek in-depth discussions with the Biden administration over the North Korea issue, such as holding a summit, and persuade the U.S. to treat North Korea's denuclearization issue separately.
"It will be important to for the Moon administration to stress that South Korea will stay committed to promoting human rights in general, but both Seoul and Washington need to handle the North Korea issue as a special case, like the U.S. policy on Iran," Go said. "The South Korean government is seeking to have a Moon-Biden meeting as soon as possible for this reason."
The looming meeting between the national security advisers of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan is anticipated to offer a glimpse of how the Biden government will deal with the North Korea issue. U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Wednesday that he would host his South Korean and Japanese counterparts ― Suh Hoon and Shigeru Kitamura, respectively ― next week to discuss the outcomes of Biden's North Korea policy review.