The United Nations Security Council will discuss the human rights situation in North Korea on Thursday, as defectors and victims of torture complain that not enough has been done since the publication of a landmark report in 2014.
The report by a U.N. panel found human rights abuses on a scale “without parallel in the contemporary world,” comparable to the atrocities of Nazi Germany, and recommended sending the case and those responsible to the International Criminal Court.
Any discussion by the Security Council will take place over the strong opposition of permanent member and veto-holder China, which has worked behind the scenes to block the debate, according to diplomatic sources.
“We have always opposed the involvement of the U.N. Security Council in a country’s human rights issues,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a regular press conference in Beijing.
Though relations have been strained between Pyongyang and Beijing in recent months, there have been signs of a thaw, with North Korea announcing this week that dictator Kim Jong Un’s personal girl band will perform a series of shows in China.
Talk, but no action
Refugees, defectors and human rights organizations have expressed their frustration that little has been done in the two years since the U.N. report was published.
“I am certain the day will come when we will see North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un stand trial at the ICC,” says Ahn Myung Chul, a former prison guard.
“But that day is too far away for the victims.”
Chul and three other defectors, all of whom testified to the panel almost two years ago, said that public executions are becoming more frequent and the suffering of the North Korean people has not eased.
“The sheer brutality of North Korea’s totalitarianism is grotesque,” Param-Preet Singh, senior international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch, said Wednesday in a statement.
“The U.N. Security Council should put Pyongyang on notice that those implicated in crimes against humanity may soon have to face justice.”
It’s a frustration those involved with the U.N. panel sympathize with, but Michael Kirby, the former chair of the inquiry, was positive about the potential for diplomatic intervention.
“This is a novel where the last chapter is yet to be written. It is a horror novel and it’s a distressing story but I think there will be action,” he said.
The China question
According to analysts and insiders, any discussion on North Korean human rights will happen over the objections of China and Russia.
China can call a procedural vote on the agenda of the planned meeting in an attempt to block it, something it has tried unsuccessfully in the past. However, as the meeting itself was called by nine of the 15 Security Council members, and the agenda is set by a simple majority vote, it is doubtful Beijing’s ambassador could prevent it going forward.
“We believe it is critical for the council to continue to shine a light on the abuses in North Korea and speak regularly about the DPRK’s human rights situation — and what we can do to change it — for as long as the crimes committed there persist,” U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said in a statement.
Both U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein and Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman are expected to brief the Council.
However, any attempt to refer Pyongyang or Kim himself to the International Criminal Court — as was recommended by the 2014 report and a recent General Assembly committee resolution — will almost certainly be vetoed by China.