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North Korea's ambassador to UN rights council: 'Mind your own business' | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
North Korea's ambassador to the UN , So Se-pyong, told diplomats to "mind your own business" before they voted on Friday to demand the country face international justice for crimes against humanity that have been likened to Nazi-era atrocities. | |
UN investigators said last month that security chiefs and possibly North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un himself should be tried for ordering systematic torture, starvation and killings, saying the crimes were "strikingly similar" to those committed during the second world war. | |
The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva adopted a resolution, brought by Japan and the EU and backed by the US and South Korea, calling for the UN security council to hold those responsible to account. Thirty states voted in favour, six were against and 11 abstained. | |
During the debate, So rejected the resolution, telling the talks: "Mind your own business", drawing laughter from delegates on the last day of a four-week session examining human rights violations worldwide. "Co-operation can never be compatible with confrontation," he added. | |
The resolution recommends "that the report of the COI (commission of inquiry) be submitted through the general assembly to the security council for its consideration and appropriate action, including through consideration of referral of the human rights situation to the appropriate international criminal justice mechanism". | |
However, western and Asian powers concede that at present their chances of holding North Korea liable for crimes against humanity are slim. | |
China and Russia, which hold vetoes in the security council, were among those voting against the motion at the rights body. | |
The UN Human Rights Council also extended the mandate of its investigator on North Korea, Marzuki Darusman, by one year and agreed to establish a field office to help him collect more evidence and testimony. | The UN Human Rights Council also extended the mandate of its investigator on North Korea, Marzuki Darusman, by one year and agreed to establish a field office to help him collect more evidence and testimony. |
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