UN's North Korea Crimes Against Humanity Report Rejected By China

By Tom Miles

GENEVA, March 17 (Reuters) - China dismissed a U.N. report alleging North Korea has committed crimes against humanity on Monday, effectively confirming the fears of human rights advocates that Beijing will shield its ally Pyongyang from international prosecution.

The report, published in February, accused the reclusive country of killings and torture comparable to Nazi-era atrocities and said officials, possibly even Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un himself, should face the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Chen Chuandong, a counsellor at China's mission in Geneva, told the U.N. Human Rights Council that the independent commission of inquiry had made unfounded accusations and made recommendations that were "divorced from reality".

"The inability of the commission to get support and cooperation from the country concerned makes it impossible for the commission to carry out its mandate in an impartial, objective and effective manner," Chen said.

China, as a member of the U.N. Security Council, would have the power to veto any move to refer North Korea to the Hague-based ICC. Diplomats had already warned China was likely to object to the report, which also criticised Beijing for its treatment of North Korean defectors.

The chief author of the report, retired Australian judge Michael Kirby, had opened the debate by challenging the United Nations to act to stop crimes against humanity that ranked among the worst in modern history.

"Contending with the scourges of Nazism, apartheid, the Khmer Rouge and other affronts required courage by great nations and ordinary human beings alike," Kirby said.

"It is now your solemn duty to address the scourge of human rights violations and crimes against humanity in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea."

Kirby said the team's findings, based on testimony from hundreds of victims, defectors and witnesses, were unequivocal, and demanded closure of political prison camps believed to hold up to 120,000 people.

But Chen said the report was based on information and interviews collected outside the country, without first hand information, he said. "The question then arises can such an inquiry be truly credible?"

North Korean Ambassador, So Se Pyong, reiterated Pyongyang's rejection of the report, rubbishing it as a ridiculous provocation and a fabrication instigated by the United States and other "hostile forces", who he said should be investigated for their own human rights records. (Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

CORRECTION: A previous headline misspelled "China." This has now been corrected.