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South Korea to co-sponsor UN human rights resolution on North Korea

Published: 28 Mar. 2026, 13:42 Updated: 29 Mar. 2026, 19:16

An election of members of the UN Human Rights Council is held at the UN headquarters in New York, on Oct. 10, 2023. [XINHUA/YONHAP]

The South Korean government has decided, after deliberation, to join as a co-sponsor of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council resolution on North Korea.

According to multiple government sources on Friday, the government has tentatively decided to participate as a co-sponsoring country in the North Korea human rights resolution set to be adopted at the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council later this month.

The government had been considering refraining from joining as a co-sponsor, given its efforts to resume talks with Pyongyang and the North’s strong opposition to the resolution.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said a day earlier, “North Korea views [the human rights resolution] as a representative hostile policy,” adding that not joining as a co-sponsor would be the appropriate course.

Despite this, the government appears to have leaned toward participation on the grounds that human rights are a universal value that warrants a principled response.

It is also believed that the decision reflected the view that North Korea’s hostile stance toward the South is firmly entrenched, making it unlikely that abstaining from co-sponsorship would significantly change the situation.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently stated in a policy speech at the Supreme People’s Assembly that the North would “define South Korea as the most hostile state and deal with it by thoroughly rejecting and disregarding it through the most explicit words and actions.”

The UN adopts resolutions on North Korean human rights twice a year — at the Human Rights Council in the first half and at the General Assembly in the second half.

South Korea participated as a co-sponsor from 2008 to 2018, but refrained from doing so from 2019 to 2021 under the Moon Jae-in administration, citing potential impacts on inter-Korean relations. It resumed co-sponsorship in 2022 under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

After the launch of the Lee Jae-myung administration, there was speculation that South Korea might again refrain from co-sponsoring the resolution at last year’s UN General Assembly, but it ultimately chose to participate.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JUNG SI-NAE [[email protected]]