UN letter to Kim Jong Un warns on accountability
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| Retired Australian judge Michael Kirby, center, chairperson of the commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, takes off his glasses after delivering the commission's report during a press conference at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Feb. 17, 2014. A U.N. panel has warned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that he may be held accountable for orchestrating widespread crimes against civilians in the secretive Asian nation. Kirby told the leader in a letter accompanying a yearlong investigative report on North Korea that international prosecution is needed "to render accountable all those, including possibly yourself, who may be responsible for crimes against humanity." |
GENEVA (AP)
-- A U.N. panel warned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Monday that he
may be held accountable for orchestrating widespread crimes against
civilians in the secretive Asian nation, ranging from systematic
executions to torture, rape and mass starvation.
It
is unusual for a U.N. report to directly implicate a nation's leader.
But in a letter accompanying a yearlong investigative report, the
chairman of a three-member U.N. commission of inquiry, retired
Australian judge Michael Kirby, directly warned Kim that international
prosecution is needed "to render accountable all those, including
possibly yourself, who may be responsible for crimes against humanity."
"Even
without being directly involved in crimes against humanity, a military
commander may be held responsible for crimes against humanity committed
by forces under the commander's effective command and control," Kirby
wrote.
He urged Kim to take "all necessary and
reasonable measures" to stop crimes against humanity and insure that
they are properly investigated and prosecuted. Kirby added, however,
there was no indication the North Korea would do so.
The
investigative commission's 372-page report is a wide-ranging indictment
of North Korea for policies including political prison camps with
80,000 to 120,000 people, state-sponsored abductions of North Korean,
Japanese and other nationals, and lifelong indoctrination.
"They are wrongs that shock the conscience of humanity," Kirby said, comparing them with Nazi atrocities.
Details of the findings were reported Friday by The Associated Press.
Speaking
to reporters after the release of the report, Kirby said it was
impossible not to include Kim's name in the list of suspects because of
what he described as the government's totalitarian nature.
Kirby
referred to prison camps, which North Korea says do not exist.
"However, the satellite images show the prison camps and we had
testimony, which is quoted in the report, which tells the stories of the
prison camps" that include starvation and stunted growth in babies, he
said.
North Korean officials did not cooperate
with the panel's investigation, saying in correspondence last year that
the country "totally and categorically rejects" the probe ordered by
the U.N.'s 47-nation Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva.
The
commission's three members - which also include Sonja Biserko of Serbia
and Marzuki Darusman of Indonesia - said the findings are based on
testimony from 80 witnesses at four public hearings in Seoul, Tokyo,
London and Washington last year plus more than 240 confidential
interviews with victims and others.
North
Korea is unlikely to face prosecution because China, one of five
veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council, generally opposes
such referrals to the International Criminal Court.
"Too
many times in this building there are reports and no action," Kirby
said of the United Nations. "Well, now is a time for action. We can't
say we didn't know."
Before the report's release, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said her country's position was "very clear."
"We
think we should establish a constructive dialogue to solve the disputes
over the human rights issues based on equal footing and mutual
respect," Hua told reporters in Beijing. "It will not help the situation
to bring the issue to an international court."
Kirby
also wrote to China's U.N. ambassador in Geneva saying there's evidence
that Chinese officials have in some cases shared with North Korean
officials "information about the contacts and conduct" of North Korean
nationals subject to repatriation.
The ambassador, Wu Haitao, responded by denying that repatriated North Korean citizens from China face torture in North Korea.
U.S.
State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said the report showed
that North Korea's human rights situation "is among the world's worst."
The
report will create pressure for release of the remaining Japanese,
South Korean and other abductees still in North Korea, U.S. Rep. Ed
Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Monday in
Tokyo.
"I think together the United States and
Japan will work to guarantee the return of the abductees to their
families and to their homes," Royce told Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who
has worked on the abduction issue for more than a decade.
