[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The government, which joined as a co-sponsor of the UN resolution on North Korean human rights, abstained from voting on the human rights resolution concerning the Crimea region forcibly annexed by Russia from Ukraine. The government explained that this was because the Crimea human rights resolution contained many political and military elements.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official told reporters on the 17th that the reason South Korea abstained from the Crimea Autonomous Republic and Ukraine Sevastopol human rights situation resolution (Crimea human rights resolution), adopted the previous day at the UN headquarters in New York, was as stated above. The official explained, "As in the past, the Crimea human rights resolution is a gray-area resolution, and as the results show, more countries abstained than voted in favor."
The resolution was adopted by vote on the same day in the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, which deals with human rights issues. The voting results were 78 in favor, 79 abstentions, and 14 against. The Crimea human rights resolution proposed by Ukraine included many Western countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom as sponsors.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Crimea human rights resolution included not only content on improving the human rights situation in the region but also demands such as "the annexation of Crimea and other territories of Ukraine is illegal and must be immediately reversed" and "withdrawal of Russian troops." The Ministry explained that, in principle, including such content in a human rights resolution inevitably causes controversy. The official added, "If you include nuclear issues in an Iran human rights resolution, for example, it inevitably causes controversy over the human rights discussion itself."
Regarding criticism that the new government, which pledged to respect universal values and actively participated in the North Korean human rights resolution, ignored Ukraine’s human rights situation by stating that human rights issues cannot be politicized, the official emphasized a case-by-case approach. He said, "Human rights itself is a highly political phenomenon," but added, "If such political and military items are included in the resolution without a causal relationship showing how human rights have been affected, it inevitably causes controversy."
In response to criticism that this stance does not align with the new government's diplomatic policy as a global pivotal state, the official reiterated, "Our perspective as a global pivotal state has not wavered," and emphasized again, "Our government holds a strong position based on respecting universal values." He also stated, "We will determine our position by reviewing the content, level, and intensity of other countries' resolutions as well."
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