Bid on North Korea human rights on UN agenda

China has failed to block a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting aiming to challenge North Korea’s human rights record amid the nation’s faceoff with the US over an alleged cyber attack.

Beijing’s failure to block the move on Monday came as the majority of the UNSC’s mostly Western members voted in favor of putting the issue of North Korea’s human rights on the council’s agenda.

Prior to the vote, Chinese UN envoy Liu Jieyi emphasized that “the Security Council is not the forum to get involved in human rights issues” and it “should refrain from doing anything that might cause an escalation.”

Following the council’s vote, a formal session on North Korea began immediately, as requested by Australia’s Ambassador Gary Quinlan and nine other mostly Western UN envoys.

North Korean diplomats, however, did not take part at the meeting. Pyongyang insists that the rights criticism is based on fabrications and has denied involvement in the US-alleged hacking of Sony Pictures.

So far, the UNSC’s discussions on North Korea have been restricted to its nuclear program.

Eleven council members voted in favor, two against while two abstained. China and Russia opposed the inclusion of North Korea on the UNSC’s agenda, but as there are no vetoes in procedural votes of the council, the Chinese attempt to defeat the action failed.