By Shannon Tiezzi
China will support North Korea against UN human rights investigations — but will not back a new nuclear test.
On November 18, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution recommending that the International Criminal Court (ICC) should investigate the North Korean government for alleged human rights abuses. The UNGA resolution came nine months after a UN-commissioned report accused the Kim Jong-un regime of crimes against humanity.
As reported by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Pyongyang rejected the UN resolution. Before the vote, a North Korea delegate issued a statement calling the draft resolution “a product of political and military confrontation and plot against the DPRK [that] has no relevance with genuine promotion and protection of human rights.” The unnamed delegate dismissed the report as “a complication full of groundless political accusations and contradictions” based on “fabricated” testimonies from North Korean defectors. The statement also warned that Pyongyang would “strongly respond without slightest tolerance to any attempts on the part of hostile forces to abuse human rights issue as a tool for overthrowing the social system of our country.”
After the vote, North Korea’s foreign ministry clarified that threat by promising a new nuclear test. In a statement, the foreign ministry said that the UN resolution amounted to a U.S. attack on North Korea’s government. Given this “aggression,” Pyongyang said it would be “unable to further refrain from staging a new nuclear test.”
China’s own foreign ministry was not pleased by that response. In a press conference, spokesperson Hong Lei told reporters that China has a “clear and firm position on the Korean nuclear issue, that is, we should stay committed to realizing denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” Hong also repeated China’s customary call for a return to the Six Party Talks to address the North Korean nuclear question.
Read the full story at The Diplomat