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Antonio Guterres to be next UN secretary-general

Posted October. 07, 2016 07:34,   

Updated October. 07, 2016 08:06

한국어

Known as a “refugee champion” in the international community, former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres has been selected as the de facto next UN secretary-general. As the Security Council has picked him out of 10 candidates in its 6th closed preliminary election, it seems certain that Antonio Guterres would lead the UN from January 2017 following the incumbent Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

As UN High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015, Guterres has championed for refugee rights in relation with Syrian refugee crisis by urging active support from advanced countries. In particular, he has paid rapt attention to North Korean defectors by defining North Koreans in China who are faced with execution once repatriated to the North as “Refugee Sur Place” and emphasizing the protection by the international community. China considers North Korean defectors illegal “economic migrants,” not granting them refugee status. At an event for North Korean human rights held at New York University in November 2014, Guterres pointed out that China is violating the Refugee Convention by forcibly sending the defectors back to North Korea. Although his suggestion over the discussion of North Korean defectors in China was rejected, he is advised to be more aggressive in claiming China’s responsibility for protecting them at the helm of UN.

One of the toughest challenges that he would face while fulfilling his duty of conciliation and arbitration to maintain international peace and security, and prevent possible conflict is the issue of North Korea. Guterres once asserted that violation of human rights committee by a nation is the root cause that produces refugees, pinpointing Pyongyang as a representative example. Human rights suppression in North Korea, which has passed down to the 3rd generation from Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il to Kim Jong Un, and the threat against peace and stability of international community that the North has caused with its undying ambition for nuclear weapon and missiles have left room for doubts whether North Korea is eligible to be a member nation of the UN. As the recent case that high-ranking Health Ministry official working in the North Korean embassy in Beijing defected with his family has shown the sign of wobbling regime of Kim Jong Un, we cannot rule out the possibility of mass defection of North Korean people.

Currently, the UN faced questions concerning its authority and reason for being as it has failed to address the tragic refugee crisis in the Middle East and to control nuclear and missile provocation by the Kim Jong Un regime and its violation against human rights. It is expected that Guterres would come up with solutions so that North Koreans could live a decent life by escaping the tragic situation that is no better than that of helpless refugees.



한기흥기자 eligius@donga.com