SEOUL — North Korea has expressed strong opposition to a recent resolution by the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that criticizes the nation's human rights record, dismissing it as a politically charged and fraudulent document.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the vice minister for international organizations at North Korea's foreign ministry, and carried by the Korean Central News Agency on Friday, North Korea views the resolution as an unjust attack on its sovereignty and socialist system.
The resolution, adopted for the 22nd consecutive year during the council's 55th regular session in Geneva on Thursday (local time), condemns human rights violations in North Korea and urges countries to adhere to the principle of non-refoulement. Kim Son-gyong's statement vehemently criticized the resolution, claiming it was orchestrated by the United States and its allies with the hidden agenda of undermining the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) autonomy and socialist framework. "I scathingly denounce the 'human rights resolution', fabricated by the U.S. and its followers with the ulterior intention to overthrow the sovereignty of the dignified DPRK and its socialist system, as a grave infringement upon the DPRK's sovereignty and an act of interference in its internal affairs," Kim articulated.
Further, Kim Son-gyong accused the resolution of being a compilation of falsehoods and manipulations aimed at maligning North Korea's human rights policies and conditions, emphasizing its political motivation. The UNHRC has consistently adopted resolutions condemning North Korea's human rights practices annually since 2003.