1. On March 3, Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul attended and delivered a keynote speech at the High-level Segment of the 28th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) underway in Geneva, Switzerland. In the speech, he stressed the need to strengthen the UN’s human rights mechanism; to improve North Korea’s human rights situation; and to resolve as soon as possible the issue of sexual slavery victims drafted by Japan’s Imperial Army during World War II.

2. Vice Minister Cho, bringing attention to such barbaric human rights violations as torture, racial discrimination and sexual violence, as well as horrors being witnessed in the civil war in Syria, stressed the need to retrace steps back to the spirit of “humanism” in order to leave a better world to the next generation in which the vision of the founders of the UN -- which marks its 70th anniversary -- can be realized.

3. The Vice Minister took note of the achievement made by the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) last year and reaffirmed the willingness of the government of the Republic of Korea to continue participating in international efforts to improve the human rights situation in North Korea.

◦ He noted that the adoption of the resolutions reflecting the COI’s recommendations at the UNHRC and General Assembly followed by the adoption by the UN Security Council of North Korea’s human rights situation as formal agenda is a meaningful step forward toward the long-overdue resolution of the country’s human right issue.

◦ Before the Vice Minister’s keynote speech, North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong delivered a keynote speech, in which he, citing changes in the account by North Korean defector Shin Dong-hyuk, strongly claimed that the entire content of the COI report had been fabricated. In response to the speech by the North Korean official, Vice Minister Cho mentioned that he, as a fellow diplomat, could not contain an overwhelming sense of sorrowful pity for the official, who knows better than anyone else about the horrific human rights situation in North Korea and the grave concern verging on despair of the international community over the situation and yet exploited a refugee’s confession about changes in his account in an attempt to conceal the truth. He called the North Korean claim an effort to veil the sky with the palm of a hand, adding that darkness can never defeat light.

◦ Vice Minister Cho urged North Korea to no longer ignore the plight of its own people and immediately take concrete and sincere steps so that its people can carry on a normal, dignified life.

◦ He also urged North Korea to heed the ROK’s request to resolve humanitarian issues such as those concerning reunions of families separated during the Korean War, abductees to North Korea and prisoners of war.

4. In terms of the issue of sexual slavery victims drafted by Japan’s Imperial Army during World War II, the Vice Minister brought attention to the fact that the surviving elderly victims from sexual violence committed during World War II are still living with a deep scar in their hearts. He called on the Japanese government to assume a more sincere and courageous stance at the ongoing bilateral consultations to come up with a solution that is acceptable to the victims and the international community. He added that this solution should be worked out without further delay so that as many surviving victims as possible can restore their honor and resolve their deep sorrows before they take their last breath.

◦ He brought attention to Wednesday demonstrations having been staged by elderly survivors over the past 20 years and shared his personal experience of meeting with elderly ladies at the House of Sharing just before the Lunar New Year holidays, during which he found himself at a loss for words before these elderly women who recounted their painful memories in tears. He stressed the urgent need to resolve the issue, saying that he told them that together with the international community, he would try his best to help them recover their honor in their life-time so that their courageous confessions will not go in vain and asked for their promise to stay strong and in good health to see that day come.

◦ Vice Minister Cho brought renewed attention to the fact that last year, the human rights treaty bodies, including the Human Rights Committee and Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, recommended once again an investigation into the human rights violations of the victims of sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army, punishment of the perpetrators, and compensation and apologies to the victims; that Mme. Navi Pillay, the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, also called for a comprehensive, impartial and lasting solution to the wartime sexual slavery issue; and that the leaders of the international community, including the US, have also voiced their concerns in chorus.

◦ The Vice Minister quoted words of German Chancellor Merkel in her speech commemorating the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz camp -- “The crimes against humanity are not time-limited. We have the everlasting responsibility to pass along, and always remember, the knowledge about the atrocities.” He went on to stress that without healing the wounds of the past, we cannot anticipate a healthy future and that the Japanese government should express genuine remorse and repentance over the past history, just as German leaders have made consistent and sincere efforts to heal the wounds of the past.

5. Concluding his speech, the Vice Minister conveyed the commitment of the ROK government to making greater contributions in the years ahead toward a world in which human dignity and democratic values are fully respected and peace and happiness flow like a river. He added that in order to do so, the ROK will use its invaluable experiences and lessons learned in the process of simultaneously achieving economic development and in the protection and promotion of human rights as well as democratic institutionalization. 


               Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

* unofficial translation