South Korea co-sponsored an annual U.N. resolution condemning human rights violations in North Korea for the first time in years, the latest demonstration of Seoul’s push to renew focus on human rights violations north of the inter-Korean border. 

Under former President Moon Jae-in (2017-2022), South Korea opted not to vote on the annual resolution out of concern that doing so would interfere with its outreach campaign to Pyongyang, which bristles at any criticism of its human rights record. 

Advocacy groups were criticalof this approach, suggesting the regime’s brutal disregard for human rights must be a part of any engagement