According to a Reuters report, diplomats, United Nations sources and activists revealed that they are not confident about the chances that North Korea would be held liable for crimes against humanity as documented in a UN report. Last month, UN investigators have recommended that security chiefs of the country and even Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un need to face charges lodged against them for ordering systematic torture, starvation and killings that have been compared with that of the Nazis.
The UN also recommended the closure of political prison camps and action by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Reuters said the report's findings were based on accounts from hundreds of witnesses, victims and defectors.
According to diplomats, UN sources and activists, it is unlikely that a global consensus to try North Korean leaders will be reached considering that Pyongyang's ally, China, has veto powers and will most likely refer the crimes allegedly done by North Korea to the ICC.
On Monday, former Australian judge Michael Kirby, who has led the inquiry that produced the report, will present their findings to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The forum will reportedly decide how it will handle the North Korea case in the session expected to last until March 28.
On the other hand, campaigners for actions against North Korea and its leaders are demanding immediate action. Julie de Rivero of Human Rights Watch told Reuters, "The fact that these violations are now deemed to be crimes against humanity triggers the responsibility of the international community to respond. It might be a long route but steps need to be taken."
"This is the first real test of the international community to show it is serious about acting on the Commission of Inquiry's chilling findings. There needs to a concerted effort to ratchet up the pressure on the North Korean government to address these systematic, widespread and grave human rights violations," Roseann Rife of Amnesty International had said in a statement.
