The United States, its Western allies and experts shone a spotlight on the dire human rights situation and increasing repression in North Korea at a United Nations meeting Friday that China and Russia denounced as a politicized move likely to escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula.
China blocked the U.S. from broadcasting the informal Security Council meeting globally on the internet, a decision criticized by U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield as an attempt to hide North Korea’s “atrocities from the world.”
Webcasting requires agreement from all 15 council members. But the U.S. envoy said Beijing’s effort was in vain because the meeting will be made public, and the U.S. and many others will continue to speak out against Pyongyang’s human rights abuses and threats to international peace.
James Turpin, a senior official in the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for…
