SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korea said Thursday it will reverse its long-standing refusal to join international efforts criticizing North Korea's human rights record and vote in favor of a U.N. resolution against the communist regime's alleged abuses.
A U.N. General Assembly committee is reportedly set this week to consider the nonbinding resolution, which could then go to the entire assembly for approval.
Choo Kyu-ho, a South Korea Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Seoul would vote in favor of the measure. South Korea has previously abstained from such votes at various U.N. bodies.
"The government expects that this decision will contribute to the enhancement of human rights as universal values," the ministry said in a statement.
South Korea "will make consistent efforts for substantial improvement of the human rights situation of North Koreans, and cooperate with the international community for that purpose," it said.
Seoul has been reluctant to criticize North Korea in keeping with its "sunshine" policy of engagement and warming ties since a 2000 summit between the two countries' leaders. The North says any criticism of its human rights record is part of a U.S.-led campaign to topple the regime.
South Korea characterized its reversal as creating an opening for international engagement with Pyongyang, saying it "serves an occasion to specifically facilitate dialogue and cooperation between North Korea and the international community in the human rights field."
A North Korean official said Seoul's decision "would not have a positive influence" on inter-Korean relations. Kim Myong Gil, a deputy chief of North Korea's mission to the United Nations in New York who spoke to The Associated Press by telephone, condemned the vote as interference in North Korea's internal affairs.
South Korea has also refused to take any significant new steps to sanction the North in compliance with a U.N. Security Council resolution against Pyongyang for its nuclear test. Seoul insists it is already doing enough to prevent proliferation, and also declined to participate fully in a U.S.-led effort that seeks to seize North Korean ships suspected of weapons trafficking.
Instead, South Korea has insisted its top priority is maintaining stability on the peninsula and avoiding any possible risk of war.
With six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program set to begin again, North Korea's Kim said that progress depends on the attitude of the United States.
"Progress can be made" in the nuclear disarmament talks "if the United States has a sincere attitude and has willingness to improve its relations" with the North, Kim said.
North Korea agreed to return to the talks last month after a meeting with the U.S. in China where Washington agreed to discuss its campaign to halt the North's access to the international financial system over the regime's alleged illegal activity, including counterfeiting and money laundering.
Kim said if the U.S. keeps the promise it made to North Korea during the meeting in Beijing, it would be "a good start" for the talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear weapons program.
The North has said it is returning to the talks to resolve the financial restrictions. However, the U.S. has said only that it agreed to hold talks on the sidelines of the nuclear negotiations about the financial issue, but hasn't made any promise to ease the restrictions.
North Korea agreed in September 2005 to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for security guarantees and aid, but follow-up discussions in November 2005 failed to make any progress on implementing the deal and no meetings have been held since amid the North's boycott over the financial issue. Pyongyang tested a nuclear device on Oct. 9.
No date has been set for the resumed negotiations, but officials have said they are expected to take place before the end of the year.
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