China opposes U.N. Security Council meeting on N. Korea's human rights

BEIJING, Dec. 9 (Yonhap) -- China said Wednesday that it opposes a U.S. plan to hold a special meeting at the U.N. Security Council this week on North Korea's dismal human rights record, claiming that such action may escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The Security Council took up the issue of North Korea's human rights situation for the first time last year and this week's meeting would be the second such session. The U.S., president of the Security Council this month, said last week that the upcoming meeting would be held on Thursday. "We always oppose the U.N. Security Council intervening in the issue of human rights," China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters when asked whether China opposes the upcoming meeting. "The situation on the Korean Peninsula is still delicate," Hua said. "Therefore, we hope that all sides should refrain from further escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula." China, a key ally of North Korea, had tried to block last year's first-ever U.N. Security Council meeting on North Korea's human rights, but the meeting took place as a majority of the Security Council members voted in favor of it. Last month, the Third Committee of the U.N. General Assembly passed a North Korean human rights resolution that calls for the Security Council to consider referring the North to the International Criminal Court (ICC). After a year-long investigation, a U.N. panel issued a landmark report last year saying North Korean leaders are responsible for "widespread, systematic and gross" violations of human rights and the ICC should take up the issue as "crimes against humanity." Despite calls for the North's referral to the ICC, it is unlikely that the Security Council will actually refer the matter to the court because China and Russia are expected to veto such a move. kdh@yna.co.kr (END)