North Korea boycotts UN Human Rights Council session
North Korea boycotts UN Human Rights Council sessionDiplomats have forcefully backed calls for Pyongyang and the perpetrators of rights violations in North Korea to be held accountable
Geneva — On Monday, North Korea boycotted a special session at the UN Human Rights Council, where experts warned that the country’s increasing isolation could worsen its already disastrous rights situation. The UN’s top expert on the human rights situation in North Korea, Tomas Ojea Quintana, told the council in Geneva that increasing military tension in the Asia-Pacific region had further isolated the Stalinist state. And a separate group of experts, charged with exploring legal pathways to hold North Korea accountable for widespread rights abuses and crimes against humanity, reiterated calls to have the country referred to the International Criminal Court in the Hague. But when council president Joaquin Alexander Maza Martelli called on North Korea to respond, as is customary, the country’s delegation was absent. Last March, North Korean foreign minister Ri Su Yong said the country would "no longer participate in international sessions singling out the human rights situation of [N...
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