Japan and the European Union are poised to call for concrete measures to hold those responsible for human rights abuses in North Korea accountable, according to a draft of their resolution to be submitted to a U.N. human rights panel.
The two parties plan to jointly submit the resolution, the 10th of its kind, on Thursday with the aim of winning approval from the U.N. Human Rights Council next week. China and Russia have signaled their opposition, saying they cannot support any attempt to address rights issues for political purposes.
According to the draft, a copy of which was obtained by Kyodo News on Wesnesday, the resolution is expected to welcome a recent report by U.N. Special Rapporteur on North Korea Tomas Ojea Quintana that calls on the international community to refer the issue of Pyongyang's rights abuses to the International Criminal Court.