UN to notify North Korea’s Kim of probe for crimes against humanity?

A UN expert on human rights in North Korea has asked the United Nations to officially notify North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that he may be investigated for crimes against humanity.

A landmark 2014 report on North Korean human rights, co-authored by Marzuki Darusman, concluded that North Korean security chiefs and possibly Kim himself should face justice for overseeing a system of Nazi-style atrocities.

In a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Darusman recommended that the Council arrange an official communication, sent directly to Kim and signed by Darusman or U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein.

His report, dated Jan. 19 but published on Monday, also said three experts should be appointed to find the best legal path to hold North Korea to account and find “creative and practical” ways to establish the truth and ensure justice for victims. Darusman stressed the importance of using the International Criminal Court but said it was “able to handle only the uppermost leadership”.

Only the U.N. Security Council can involve the court, but North Korea’s sole ally, China, a veto-wielding member of the top U.N. body, has repeatedly rejected calls for the Security Council to tackle human rights in North Korea. However, China said on Friday it would back a U.N. resolution to make North Korea “pay the necessary price” for recent North Korean rocket launches, with the aim of bringing Pyongyang back to the negotiating table.

[Reuters]

This entry was posted in China, DPRK Government, Kim Jong Un, Prison Camps by Grant Montgomery.