North Korea to boycott UN rights council, says FM

GENEVA – Agence France-Presse

Minister for Foreign Affairs of North Korea Ri Su Yong delivers his statement during the 31st session of the Human Rights Council, Tuesday, March 1, 2016, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. AP Photo

North Korea will boycott the U.N. Human Rights Council, Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong said March 1, deploring the “politicization” of the body.

“We shall no longer participate in international sessions singling out the human rights situation of [North Korea] for mere political attack,” Ri told the council, charging it was plagued by “politicization, selectivity and double standards.” 

The U.N.’s top rights body has repeatedly slammed the situation in North Korea, with a massive 2014 report charging the country and its leadership were guilty of a wide range of crimes against humanity.

But Ri insisted March 1 that the United States and others who have long yearned for the “elimination of the DPRK” (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) were using false allegations of human rights abuses to boost their cause.

He charged they were driving a “human rights racket” against the country.

They were offering more than $5,000 4,600 euros) to “so-called North Korean defectors” to get them to “fabricate” shocking testimony about the situation in the country, Ri said.

He also claimed that Pyongyang’s enemies were dangling promises of economic aid to entice U.N. member countries to adopt resolutions on human rights in North Korea.

“In other words, the voting process at the international human rights mechanisms is being commercialized,” Ri said.

North Korea would no longer take part in the process, he said, stressing that from now on, “whether or not such resolutions are to be put to a vote will be none of our business and we will never be bound by them.”