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New York (Jiji Press)—A U.N. General Assembly committee approved on Wednesday a draft resolution condemning North Korea’s human rights violations, including its abductions of Japanese and South Korean nationals.
The resolution is expected to be formally adopted by the General Assembly later this year.
With the latest resolution, adopted by consensus, the Third Committee has backed similar resolutions for 20 years in a row.
This year’s resolution, submitted by the European Union and co-sponsored by Japan, South Korea and others, voiced “grave concern at the long years of severe suffering experienced by abductees and their families as a result of their forced separation.”
The resolution also called for a swift return of all abductees.
Kim Song, North Korean ambassador to the United Nations, said that human rights violations simply do not exist in his country, arguing that the resolution is “a false paper.”
Elsewhere in the United Nations, the United States on Wednesday vetoed a Security Council resolution calling for an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The resolution was backed by the other 14 Security Council members including Japan.
This is the fifth time the United States has used its veto power to shoot down a resolution on conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza since October last year.
With the humanitarian situation growing dire, Japan and nine other nonpermanent Security Council members had proposed the resolution, aimed at beefing up transportation of relief goods into Gaza and ensuring the continuance of work by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA.
