South Korea sets out on UNSC presidency, plans meeting on North's human rights

South Korea officially began its rotating monthlong presidency of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Monday, unveiling a plan to hold an open meeting on North Korea's human rights situation.

Seoul's Ambassador to the UN Hwang Joon-kook addressed a press briefing to explain the "program of work," which spells out UNSC plans for meetings and other engagements for June, as South Korea, a nonpermanent UNSC member, holds the presidency for the first time in a decade.

Hwang said that the UNSC will have a meeting on the North's human rights in the middle of this month and hold a high-level open debate on cybersecurity on June 20. He reiterated that South Korea will convene a UNSC meeting if it is needed to respond to potential North Korean provocations.

"Peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula is one of our core interests," he said. "In this light, we stand ready to convene a meeting in response to any possible provocations by the DPRK as the council did just last week."

DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Touching on the plan to hold a meeting on North Korea's human rights, Hwang said that the advancement of the North's weapons of mass destruction programs is "closely intertwined" with the "dire" human rights and humanitarian situation in the North "like the two sides of the same coin."

"In this regard, we firmly believe that the Security Council should not neglect the latent risks that systematic human rights violations in the DPRK pose to international peace and security," he said. "Human rights, peace and security issues should be approached in a holistic manner, especially in the case of the DPRK."

South Korea's UNSC presidency comes amid a rise in tensions on the Korean Peninsula caused by Pyongyang's recent provocative acts, including a military satellite launch, artillery drills, its sending of trash-filled balloons and the jamming of GPS navigation signals, not to mention its tough rhetoric against Seoul.

The UNSC presidency rotates among the council's 15 member states on a monthly basis. Seoul last held the UNSC presidency in May 2014.

Yonhap