China says UN Security Council ‘is not about human rights’
China’s State Councilor Yang Jiechi, left, is escorted by Japan’s National Security Council head Shotaro Yachi before their meeting in Tokyo Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015. Kyodo News reported the two held talks to discuss preparations for an upcoming summit of Japan, China and South Korea. AP
UNITED NATIONS — China’s ambassador to the United Nations is opposing further discussion of North Korea’s human rights situation by the UN Security Council, telling reporters that “the Security Council is not about human rights.”
Ambassador Liu Jieyi spoke to reporters Tuesday.
The council late last year put North Korea’s human rights situation on its agenda of issues of international peace and security. That came in the wake of a groundbreaking UN commission of inquiry report on widespread rights abuses in the largely isolated but nuclear-armed country.
None of the council’s 15 members has yet called for a meeting on the issue this year.
China is one of North Korea’s strongest allies, along with Russia.
Liu says the council should focus on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and on dialogue.
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