North Korea yesterday rejected a UN resolution condemning the regime's human rights record, calling it a US-led fabrication "full of sheer lies."
"We categorically reject the recent human rights resolution as a product of their anti-[North Korea] political plot," a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement on the country's official Korean Central News Agency.
The comments came a day after the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which included the US, Japan and China, criticized North Korea for conducting a nuclear test on Oct. 9.
On Friday, a UN committee approved the resolution, which was sponsored by the EU, accusing the North of public executions, torture and other human rights violations. The draft resolution goes to a plenary meeting of the 192-nation UN assembly for final approval.
It was the first formal comment from the North's central government on the resolution.
On Saturday, a ruling Workers' Party organ, dealing with relations with South Korea, issued a statement criticizing Seoul for voting for the resolution.
North Korea has long been accused of imposing the death penalty for political reasons, holding thousands in prison camps, torturing border-crossers and severely restricting freedom of expression and religion.
But Pyongyang has rejected the allegations, claiming it the resolution is part of a US attempt to overthrow its regime.
"The resolution fabricated by hostile forces, toeing the US line, is full of sheer lies that can convince no one, as was the case with the similar one adopted last year," the North's spokesman said.
"The US and the EU had better put an end to their own human rights abuses before finding fault with the human rights performance in other countries," he said.
South Korea voted in favor of the motion in an about-face that could further strain its relations with the North.
Until the new resolution, Seoul did not vote on similar resolutions out of concern its criticism of Pyongyang might complicate inter-Korean relations and efforts to resolve the nuclear standoff.
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
AERIAL INCURSIONS: The incidents are a reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions go beyond Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said Two NATO members on Sunday said that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine, while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day. A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense said. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions. It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
RSS