The United States and South Korea are working with the United Nations to set up a a meeting of foreign ministers attending the U.N. General Assembly in an effort to rally support for a U.N. resolution on North Korea's human rights situation, sources said Friday.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se could attend the "side event" conference set to take place in New York during the "leaders' week" of the U.N. General Assembly later this month, the sources said.
The conference, led jointly by the U.S., the South and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, is aimed at highlighting the seriousness of North Korea's human rights situation and increasing international support for a UNGA resolution on the issue, they said.
Earlier this week, a group of former American officials, scholars and activists sent a letter to Kerry, urging him to participate in the event, saying his participation would help generate widespread support of a strong U.N. General Assembly resolution on the North's human rights record.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies made the letter public on Friday.
The group also welcomed the U.S. interest in co-sponsoring a draft resolution on North Korea currently being written by Japan and the European Union, and called on the U.S. to ensure the resolution condemns the North's human rights violations "in the strongest possible terms."
SOURCE: YONHAP NEWS
