GENEVA: China dismissed a UN report alleging North Korea has committed crimes against humanity yesterday, effectively confirming the fears of human rights advocates that Beijing will shield its ally Pyongyang from international prosecution.
The report, published in February, accused the reclusive country of killings and torture comparable to Nazi-era atrocities and said officials, possibly even Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un himself, should face the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Chen Chuandong, a counsellor at China’s mission in Geneva, told the UN Human Rights Council that the independent commission of inquiry made unfounded accusations and made recommendations that were “divorced from reality.”
“The inability of the commission to get support and cooperation from the country concerned makes it impossible for the commission to carry out its mandate in an impartial, objective and effective manner,” Chen said.
China, as a member of the UN Security Council, would have the power to veto any move to refer North Korea to the Hague-based ICC. Diplomats had already warned China was likely to object to the report, which also criticised Beijing for its treatment of North Korean defectors.
The chief author of the report, retired Australian judge Michael Kirby, had opened the debate by challenging the United Nations to act to stop crimes against humanity that ranked among the worst in modern history.
“Contending with the scourges of Nazism, apartheid, the Khmer Rouge and other affronts required courage by great nations and ordinary human beings alike,” Kirby said.
Reuters
