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UN committee condemns North Korea over torture and rights

19 November 2010 04:51 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. A UN committee on Thursday passed a resolution condemning human rights in North Korea, but the communist government rejected the action as "confrontational" and said it would not change, APA reports quoting AFP.
China and other Asian nations were among 18 countries to vote against the resolution which condemned "torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including inhuman conditions of detention, public executions, extrajudicial and arbitrary detention."
One hundred nations backed the resolution put to the UN General Assembly’s main human rights committee by the European Union, United States and other western nations.
The European Union, which has put the resolution each year since 2003, said North Korea had made "no substantial efforts" to respond to concerns raised each year by the international community.
North Korea, which has faced strong criticism from international human rights groups on its labor camps and public executions, has refused access to a UN special rights envoy. But the resolution did note better cooperation with UN humanitarian agencies.
North Korea’s UN ambassador Sin Son-Ho called the resolution and the European Union "confrontational".
"This is a miscalculation to expect any change from us through the forceful adoption of fake resolutions," he told the meeting.
"If one is to protect human rights one should have state power and a powerful deterrent," he added.
China voted against the motion saying "human right 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.