S. Korea urges Pyongyang to improve human rights

GENEVA, March 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korea urged North Korea to take "necessary
measures" to address its abysmal human rights record at the regular session of
the U.N. Human Rights Council on Tuesday.
"My government, sharing the serious concerns of the international community
regarding the dire human rights conditions in the DPRK (North Korea), urges that
the latter take necessary measures to improve its human rights situation in full
compliance with its obligations under international human rights law and relevant
treaties to which it is a party, said South Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Shin
Kak-soo.
In his keynote speech for the session that began here Monday, Shin added his
government will work closely with the international community to improve human
rights conditions not only in North Korea, but also in "every corner of the
globe."
South Korea's tone this year was similar to that of last year's session, held
shortly after the launch of the conservative government of President Lee
Myung-bak.
Lee's administration broke from the relatively low-key approach taken by his two
liberal predecessors by co-sponsoring a U.N. resolution condemning Pyongyang's
human rights abuses, marking the first such action for a South Korean government.
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