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Marzuki Darusman (pictured) was
appointed UN special rapporteur
on human rights in North Korea
SEOUL — North Korea snubbed a UN resolution condemning its human rights conditions, calling it a US-led conspiracy to topple the communist regime through pressure.
"The 'resolution' is a product of the political plot of the hostile forces," a spokesman for the North's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
"The hostile forces led by the US hatch this plot every year to bring down the DPRK's (North Korea's) system through pressure and conspiratorial means by labeling it a 'human rights abuser,'" he said, according to Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The country would steadily strengthen and develop "the Korean-style socialist system which fully protects the human rights and comprehensively promotes them," the spokesman said.
The West was "being condemned by the world community for its racial discrimination, maltreatment of immigrants, violence against women and ill-treatment of prisoners and all other human rights abuses," he added.
The UN General Assembly's main human rights committee on Thursday passed a resolution which condemned "torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including inhuman conditions of detention, public executions, extrajudicial and arbitrary detention" in North Korea.
One hundred nations backed the resolution, introduced by the European Union, United States and other western nations, with China and other Asian nations among 18 countries to vote against it.
The European Union, which has put the resolution to the committee each year since 2003, said North Korea had made "no substantial efforts" to respond to concerns raised each year by the international community.
Further resolutions condemned human rights conditions in Iran and Myanmar.
North Korea, which has faced strong criticism from international human rights groups on its labour camps and public executions, has refused access to a UN special rights envoy.
But the resolution did note better cooperation with UN humanitarian agencies.
China voted against the motion, saying "human rights issues should be dealt with through dialogue and cooperation".
Indonesia and Malaysia also voted against, while Singapore was one of 16 countries to abstain, saying it opposed resolutions which targeted one nation.
Marzuki Darusman, who was appointed UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea in August, will visit South Korea on November 22-26 to gather information on alleged human rights violations in the North.
Pyongyang in October rejected Darusman's request to enter the North.
Darusman will meet with South Korean government authorities, NGOs and alleged victims of human rights violations in the North, an aide said.
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