1. On the sidelines of the high segment of “the 37^th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council” in Geneva, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha met with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on February 27, during which the two sides discussed major human rights issues as well as ways that the Republic of Korea and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) can work together.

※ The mandate of the HCHR, the top UN position that oversees the organization’s human rights-related affairs and activities, has been established at the recommendation made at the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993.

2. Minister Kang commended the High Commissioner for his vigorous efforts to protect and promote human rights across the world even in the face of many challenges; and stressed that with the year 2018 marking the 70^th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the international community needs to work harder to narrow the large gap between human rights commitments and the reality.

° High Commissioner Zeid voiced concern over the fact that even as the world marks the 70^th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, democracy is declining and grave violations of human rights are continuously committed in many countries.

3. Minister Kang, underscoring the need for cooperation between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the UN’s human rights mechanisms to seek improvements in the North’s human rights situation, extended appreciation to High Commissioner Zeid for his attention to and work on DPRK's human rights issue, and asked him to remain attentive to it.

° High Commissioner Zeid, expressing interest in the developments in the situation on the Korean Peninsula around the time of the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games, stated that the UN will remain attentive to DPRK's human rights issue and continuously seek to engage in tackling the issue.

4. This meeting is expected to serve as an opportunity to express the ROK government’s commitment to continuously take an active part in the OHCHR-led international efforts to safeguard and promote human rights; to help the two sides better understand major human rights issues, including the human rights situation in the DPRK, women’s human rights, and “comfort women” and other issues regarding sexual violence in conflict as issues of universal human rights; and to affirm the two sides’ commitment to work together in the field.

* unofficial translation