Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Liu Jieyi has urged all sides to exercise restraint to avoid escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula, after the U.N.
Security Council adopted North Korea's dismal human rights record as an official agenda item for the first time.
Liu also repeated that China would never allow war or chaos on the Korean Peninsula, according to Liu's remarks made Monday and posted on the Chinese foreign ministry's website Tuesday, in a veiled warning against North Korea's possible provocations.
It was the first time that North Korea's human rights situation has been put on the agenda of the Security Council, with U.S.
Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power denouncing the North's human rights record as a "living nightmare."
China, which has long been opposed to debating North Korea's human rights at the Security Council as the North's last-remaining patron and Russia voted against adopting the issue as an official agenda item.
"China is a close neighbor of the Korean Peninsula and will never allow war or chaos on the peninsula," Liu was quoted as saying at the Security Council.
Liu said China hopes "the Council members and the relevant parties" will "exercise restraint, do more things that are conducive to easing the situation and avoid any words and deeds that may lead to an escalation of tensions."
Monday's Security Council session came days after the U.N.
General Assembly formally adopted a landmark resolution calling for referring the North to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for human rights violations.
The resolution was highly meaningful in that it was the first time that the U.N. General Assembly has called for the North's referral to the ICC, though chances of actual referral are slim because China and Russia are sure to veto such a move.
The North has protested strongly against the resolution, threatening a nuclear test in response.
A 400-page U.N. report, published earlier this year, criticized the North Korean regime for committing "crimes against humanity,"
citing widespread executions of people, torture and sexual violence. (Yonhap)
