SEO JI-EUN seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr
South Korean Ambassador to Geneva Yun Seong-deok speaks during the UN Human Rights Council's universal periodic review of North Korea in Geneva, on Nov. 7, 2024. [SOUTH KOREAN PERMANENT MISSION TO GENEVA]
North Korea has effectively rejected nearly half the human rights recommendations made by United Nations member states during its most recent Universal Periodic Review (UPR), according to official documents released by the UN Human Rights Council (Unhrc) and international human rights watchdogs Tuesday.
The Unhrc on Tuesday adopted the final report of North Korea's fourth UPR, which evaluates the country's human rights record as part of a peer-review mechanism established in 2008, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. The process reviews the human rights performance of all UN member states every four-and-a-half years.
During the latest review, UN member states issued 294 recommendations to Pyongyang, covering various civil, political and socioeconomic rights.
According to the final report and human rights organizations, North Korea accepted 143 recommendations and partially accepted seven but formally rejected or merely “noted” — a diplomatic term widely interpreted as a refusal to implement — the remaining 144.
Among the key proposals North Korea rejected were calls to abolish its system of political prison camps, end public executions, stop the torture of repatriated defectors, return foreign detainees and abductees, eliminate forced and child labor and guarantee freedom of expression.
Pyongyang also dismissed recommendations to repeal its most repressive domestic laws — including the Reactionary Ideology and Culture Rejection Act, the Pyongyang Cultural Language Protection Act and the Youth Education Guarantee Act — which criminalize access to foreign media and information.
It also rejected calls from Western nations to halt its support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, including alleged weapons transfers in violation of UN sanctions.
This is not the first time Pyongyang has resisted international calls to address its human rights abuses.
During its previous UPR in May 2019, North Korea said it would adopt 132 out of 262 recommendations, but international monitors have found little evidence that those commitments were ever fulfilled.
The report on the UPR was adopted at the 58th session of the Unhrc in Geneva, about four months after Pyongyang underwent its fourth UPR in November last year for the current 2022-27 cycle.
At the session, South Korean Ambassador to Geneva Yun Seong-deok voiced regret that the North rejected nearly half the 294 recommendations made by the member states, urging Pyongyang to accept and implement them.
Yun voiced deep concern over the negative impact of the North's militarization on human rights, calling for the immediate release of three detained South Korean missionaries and resolving issues related to abductees, detainees and prisoners of war "without delay."
Yun also expressed concern over the inhumane treatment of North Korean defectors who were forcibly repatriated and called for all member states to abide by the international principle of not forcing refugees back to countries where they face the risk of persecution, known as the principle of non-refoulement.
BY SEO JI-EUN, YONHAP [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]