Seoul mulling co-sponsoring U.N. resolution on N. Korean human rights

South Korea's unification ministry is currently engaging with various government entities to determine whether it should co-sponsor this year's United Nations General Assembly resolution addressing human rights in North Korea, according to an official statement on Thursday. The ministry's representative conveyed that discussing the resolution's particulars is premature, expressing that the government's stance will be determined in the near future.

The resolution is currently under consideration at the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, which continues until next month.

Earlier this year, South Korea participated in co-sponsoring the most recent resolution, which was adopted in March by the UN Human Rights Council. This resolution vehemently condemned North Korea's systematic, widespread, and severe human rights violations. The Unification Minister, Chung Dong-young, has expressed apprehension regarding co-sponsoring such a resolution, fearing that it might provoke North Korea, which views it as one of the most stringent expressions of Seoul's hostile policy towards Pyongyang.

The ministry has reportedly heard no unusual activity along the border. A spokesperson for the ministry revealed that Kim Yo-jong, the prominent sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, warned on Thursday of "new counter means" along the border.