NEW YORK, Dec. 10 (UPI) — The United Nations Security Council discussed North Korea’s human rights record for the second time in its history despite objections from China, a Council member.
The meeting was held after a 9-4 vote was passed, with two abstentions, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported. U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power held the vote and the United States presided over the meeting, after China said it would be inappropriate for the Council to discuss the human rights issues of any country.
The U.N. General Assembly has suggested the Council refer Pyongyang’s human rights abuses to the International Criminal Court, but two of the Council members, China and Russia, are likely to veto the referral.
“Once again this year, the General Assembly may call on the Security Council to take action by referring the situation in [North Korea] to the International Criminal Court, which I believe to be essential given the scale and extreme gravity of the allegations,” said Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.
The Council already has adopted moves, including Resolution 1718, to block North Korea’s illegal activities, including tests of a self-developed nuclear weapon.
But not all countries have complied with international sanctions against North Korea.
RT reported Israel had exported gold worth $400,000 to Pyongyang since 2006. David Khoury, export director of the Israel Tax Authority, said that “there was export of gold, and regretfully [the U.N.] discovered this and we were required to give explanations.”
Israel entities are now banned from selling items to North Korea that include wine and alcohol, tobacco, caviar, yachts, furs, art and computer technology.
Eitan Cabel, chairman of Israel’s Knesset Economics Committee, criticized the delay in adopting the sanctions and said the commodity was now in the wrong hands.
“The gold certainly is not going to North Korean citizens, who don’t have enough to eat,” he said.
In Washington on Thursday, the United States said North Korea should completely give up all of its nuclear weapons, after Kim Jong Un said Pyongyang has developed hydrogen bombs, Yonhap reported.
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