North Korea

(asked on 20th October 2014) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if the Government will consider implementing sanctions against individuals and entities suspected of perpetrating crimes against humanity, as detailed in the UN Commission of Inquiry on North Korea.


Answered by
Lord Swire Portrait
Lord Swire
This question was answered on 27th October 2014

The UN Commission of Inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) recommended the introduction by the UN Security Council of targeted sanctions on human rights grounds. Existing UN and EU sanctions against the DPRK are based on UN Security Council Resolutions prohibiting the further development of the DPRK's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. They target goods and activities that support those programmes, and individuals and organisations, both inside and outside the DPRK, who have acted in breach of these Resolutions.

Any introduction of sanctions on human rights grounds would require the establishment of a new sanctions regime. The UK would want any new sanctions proposals to have a clear impact on the human rights situation in North Korea without any unintended negative effect on the general population. Any sanctions against individuals or organisations would also have to meet the strict requirements established in recent legal cases where sanctions have been successfully challenged in the UK and European courts.

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