Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Aug 4, 2011
Geneva/New York – The UN Conference on Disarmament opened on Thursday in Geneva, marred by protests and a boycott by Canada because the annual event is being presided over by North Korea, a self-declared nuclear power.
The North Korean ambassador in Geneva, So Sepyong, is chairing the month-long meeting to review UN programmes aimed at disarmament.
While So was elected to chair the meeting, the disarmament group is under the leadership of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Russia, who heads the UN’s European headquarters in Geneva.
Canada decided to stay out of the talks while 28 non-governmental organizations mounted strong protests, charging North Korea with gross human rights violations as well as saying it lacked credibility.
UN Watch, one of the NGOs, said the government in Pyongyang was a ‘ruthless regime that menaces its neighbors and starves its own people, and should not be granted the propaganda coup of heading a world body dedicated to peace.’
The NGOs signed a petition calling for So to step down. They said the Pyongyang regime has threatened other countries with nuclear strikes and has allegedly exported nuclear technology to Iran, Syria and Myanmar.
The UN Security Council in New York has imposed an arms embargo and strict sanctions against North Korea after the country exploded nuclear devices and tested missiles in 2006 and 2009.
