Mr. Marzuki Darusman, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the DPRK Pays Courtesy Call on Mr. Seiji Maehara, Minister for Foreign Affairs

January 25, 2011
Japanese

Mr. Marzuki Darusman, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the DPRK (Photo)

On Tuesday, January 25, from just after 2:00 p.m. for about 20 minutes, Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr. Seiji Maehara received a courtesy call from Mr. Marzuki Darusman, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), who is visiting Japan. The brief overview of their meeting is as follows.

At the outset, Foreign Minister Maehara said that Japan has significant problems with North Korea, such as the abduction issue, and expressed his respect for the efforts that the United Nations has made thus far. In addition, he also stated that he has high hopes for Special Rapporteur Marzuki's efforts.
Special Rapporteur Marzuki stated that he would like to cooperate with the Government of Japan in order to improve the human rights situation in the DPRK, including the abduction issue. He also said that he would like to strengthen approaches to the DPRK to the effect that it should be more involved with the United Nations Human Rights Council and with the Special Rapporteur. Furthermore, he also indicated that he would like to stay in close contact with the Government of Japan regarding the discussions at the Human Rights Council in March, to which Foreign Minister Maehara expressed his desire to promote cooperation.
In addition, Foreign Minister Maehara stated that he hopes that the United Nations' Panel of Experts on human rights issues in Sri Lanka that is chaired by Special Rapporteur Marzuki will act in cooperation with Sri Lanka. In response to this, Special Rapporteur Marzuki gave an explanation of the panel's activities.

(*This is a provisional translation. The above date denotes the date of the issue of the original press release in Japanese.)

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