North Korean leader guilty of 'complicity' in abuses: UN rapporteur

Seoul, Nov 14 (IANS/EFE) Marzuki Darusman, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, Friday said the country's leader Kim Jong-un was guilty of "complicity in crimes against humanity" and "should be held responsible" by international justice.

Darusman made the remark at a press conference in Seoul, in reference to a UN report and a subsequent resolution that called for North Korea's referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

He added that the report "was able to point unequivocally to the responsibility and the culpability (for) these massive human rights violations to a single source of policy decision-making in the country".

In March, a UN commission of inquiry published a detailed report which accused Pyongyang of carrying out "crimes against humanity" comparable to those committed by the German Nazis or the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Kim Jong-un ignored the UN letter that "directly put culpability on the supreme leader for these massive human rights violations", according to the UN envoy.

The UN General Assembly is scheduled to vote on the resolution as early as next week.

Darusman reiterated his support for the resolution which is backed by much of the international community but is formally opposed by countries such as China and Cuba.

Although the rapporteur criticised the position taken by China, which as a member of the UN Security Council could veto the resolution, he also said he "respects its independence" to do so as a member state of the UN.

Cuba, which had presented an amendment to the resolution saying that it was "a dangerous precedent" for developing nations, proposed not holding the North Korean leader responsible for the human rights violations in exchange for the rapporteur's entry into the country, a line taken by Pyongyang.

While Darusman expressed his agreement with the second point, he strongly opposed the first, given that the accountability of those responsible is one of the main objectives of the inquiry commission.

North Korea, for its part, has led both diplomatic efforts and energetic protests against the UN resolution, insisting that human rights are respected in the country.

--IANS/EFE

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