| In this handout photo, a plenary meeting of the United Nations General Assembly is held to elect members of the Human Rights Council at U.N. headquarters in New York, Tuesday (local time). Xinhua-Yonhap |
Ruling bloc blames previous administration's NK policy
By Nam Hyun-woo
South Korea lost its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, after remaining in fifth place among eight countries contesting for four seats allocated to the Asia-Pacific region.
Seoul's ruling party is blaming the previous liberal Moon Jae-in administration's pro-North Korea policies for the loss, saying “such a diplomatic fiasco has already been expected” when Moon ignored Pyongyang's human rights issue for “a handshake with Kim Jong-un.”
According to the U.N., its General Assembly on Tuesday (local time) elected 12 countries to serve new terms on the Human Rights Council.
For four seats allocated to Asia-Pacific countries, South Korea gained 123 votes, following Bangladesh with 160 votes, Maldives with 154, Vietnam with 145 and Kyrgyzstan with 126. Following Seoul was Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, which gained 12 votes. Bangladesh and Bahrain each bagged one vote.
The winning countries will serve their terms from 2023 to 2025.
South Korea had a seat in the 47-member Human Rights Council during the 2006 to 2008, 2008 to 2011, 2016 to 2018 and 2020 to 2022 terms, but failed to get re-elected.
The results came as a shock to South Korea, which is the world's ninth-largest donor to the 2022-2024 U.N. regular budget. Although the Human Rights Council is not a legally-binding instrument, it commands a significant political importance as it stands as the U.N.'s top human rights body monitoring human rights situations of countries and exploring countermeasures.
An official at Seoul's Permanent Mission to the U.N. said, “We are analyzing the outcome of the election.”
Before the vote, concerns over South Korea's re-election were raised among conservatives, as the previous Moon administration took a passive stance on North Korea's human rights issue while pursuing dialogue with the Kim regime.
“The failure has already been expected,” ruling People Power Party (PPP) floor leader Joo Ho-young wrote on Facebook.
“(Under the Moon administration), South Korea did not participate in joint proposals for U.N. resolutions condemning the North's human rights crimes since 2019, while the (then-ruling) Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) used its majority in the National Assembly to pass a law that bans sending anti-North leaflets across the border, which undermines freedom of expression.”
The Moon administration distanced itself from countries that drafted and sponsored the human rights resolutions on Pyongyang for the past four years. Although it took part in joining the consensus to pass the resolutions, the move was criticized as an attempt to avoid friction with North Korea.
The anti-leaflet law took effect on March 30 of last year, but it took flak from international rights groups and the U.S., who slammed the ban as a significant violation of human rights and freedom of expression.
Joo added that South Korea became “submissive” to North Korea, which is the world's only autocratic state and anti-human rights regime. He said the previous administration “abandoned the coalition for human rights and freedom for the sake of a handshake with the North.”
PPP spokesperson Park Jeong-ha said in a commentary that “South Korea's retrograde perception of human rights was neglected by the international community.” Park added, “Seoul has lost its opportunity to take the lead in not only international but also North Korean human rights issues.”