South Korea elected as president for Human Rights council

Representative of China Yu Jianhua (L) poses for a photo with his Japanese counterpart Koji Tsuruoka (R) and his South Korean counterpart Choi Kyong-lim before their trilateral talks in Seoul, capital of South Korea, on March 26, 2013. China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) on Tuesday started the first round of trilateral talks on the free trade agreement (FTA) in the ROK’s capital, which will continue until Thursday. (Xinhua/Park jin-hee)

South Korea has been elected as president for Human Rights council for next year. The members of the council chose Korea’s permanent representative in the UN in Geneva, Choi Kyong-lim, during the council’s meeting on Monday 7th December.

Choi will head the council for year starting in January. Upon his election, Choi said that this isn’t just a personal honor, but also something South Korea would be proud of, after they made the transition from being a poor into a democratic flourished country. He added that he’ll do his best to guarantee that the council gets more privileges.

This is the first time Korea has been elected as a president, and the second Pacific Asian country after Thailand. Electing presidents is done alternately choosing from the 47 countries members divided into regions: Asia, Pacific Ocean, Africa, Americas, and western and eastern Europe. This council was founded in 2006, after being promoted from a human rights committee in the economic and social framework of the UN.

The council focuses on developing human rights and deals with violations, through keeping records of human rights in the member countries as well. The council handles a lot of the time the issue of human rights in North Korea.