A United Nations resolution calling for the referral of North Korea's dismal human rights situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC) may easily pass through a U.N. panel later this week, a Seoul official said Monday.
The U.N. Third Committee is scheduled to vote Tuesday (New York time) on a European Union-authored resolution, which for the first time calls for the referral of North Korea's human rights violations to the ICC.
"It is highly likely that it will be passed by an overwhelming (margin)," the foreign ministry official said in a background briefing, asking anonymity.
If the resolution passes through the Third Committee, which deals with social and human rights issues, it will be put to a vote in a plenary U.N. assembly next month.
Referring to Cuba's efforts to counter the passing of the EU-authored resolution, the official said the country may not succeed, given wide support for the resolution among U.N. member countries.
Reportedly after consultations with North Korea, Cuba, which is in close relations with Pyongyang, hastily submitted another resolution to the committee, requiring the removal of the call for the ICC referral from the EU-submitted version.
"Few members would vote for the Cuban proposal to remove (the ICC referral call)," said the official, adding, "The possibility (that the Cuban resolution gets passed) is less than 10 percent."
The resolution, even if it is successfully passed, has no binding power, but it will help press the U.N. Security Council to take concrete measures on North Korea's human rights violations, including the push to refer the issue to the ICC, he said.
SOURCE: YONHAP NEWS
