In a rare move, a group of foreign diplomatic envoys in South Korea have denounced North Korea’s involvement in the disappearance of other countries’ citizens, expressing serious concerns over the matter.
Ambassadors from France, Argentina, the Netherlands and the U.K. relayed their shared stance at a joint press conference in Seoul on Tuesday entitled, “Exploring Accountability Measures for Enforced Disappearance Committed by North Korea.”
French Ambassador Philippe Lefort and Argentinian Ambassador Alfredo Carlos Bascou in particular urged South Korea to sign the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and called for its ratification by the National Assembly.
During the same event, dozens of local civic groups working on human rights issues involving the North issued a joint statement and requested that President Yoon Suk Yeol urge Pyongyang to acknowledge its role in the coerced disappearance of South Korean people.
The joint statement signed by 33 groups, including the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, also called for the establishment of a state apparatus to deal with related issues.
Source: KBS World Radio