The U.N. Should Mind It’s Own Business When It Comes To DPRK North Korea – Russian Ambassador To U.N. Churkin

Russia will support China and on December 10 it will vote against the UN Security Council discussions on human rights in North Korea (DPRK), Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations Organisation Vitaly Churkin told reporters on Tuesday.

He said Russia’s position is that every UN structure “should mind its own job.”   “For [discussions on] human rights we have the Human Rights Council, which considers all countries, including the DPRK,” he said. “This is where those issues should be discussed.”

The Russian diplomat said as the December agenda for the Security Council was put together, “it did not contain a word” about a meeting on human rights in the DPRK.

“This situation does not require urgent attention, it is not a new situation, thus as far as the procedure is concerned it causes inconvenience,” he said.

The situation around human rights in the DPRK was put on agenda of the UN Security Council a year earlier, despite objections from Russia and China. Before the first meeting on the topic on December 22, out of 15 member countries of the Security Council eleven countries voted pro. In voting procedure issues decisions are taken by the majority of the vote and the right of veto is not applicable.