日米欧、拉致被害者の帰国要求　北朝鮮の人権問題協議―国連安保理

　【ニューヨーク時事】国連安保理は１１日、北朝鮮の人権問題を非公式に協議した。協議後、日米独など８カ国は共同声明を発表し、北朝鮮による拉致問題について、被害者の「即時帰国」を含めできるだけ早期に全面的に解決するよう「強く促す」と強調した。
　声明はまた、北朝鮮が自国民の取り締まりに新型コロナウイルスのパンデミック（世界的流行）を利用していると批判。コロナに絡む処刑の増加や首都圏の厳しい移動制限が伝えられていることに「強い不快感」を表明した。その上で、「自国民のニーズより兵器計画を優先させる政府の決定と国際社会からの孤立により、パンデミックが北朝鮮国民に及ぼす影響が悪化することは避けられない」と指摘した。（2020/12/12-10:39）

Eight countries including Japan and the United States said in a joint statement Friday that they "strongly urge" North Korea to realize the "immediate return" of Japanese and other abductees from the reclusive country.
   The joint statement was issued following an unofficial U.N. Security Council meeting on the human rights situation in North Korea.
   The eight countries, also including Germany, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, France and Britain, criticized Pyongyang as "using the global (COVID-19) pandemic to crack down further on the human rights of its own people."
   "We are deeply disturbed by a reported uptick in executions related to COVID-19, as well as strict controls on movement in and around the capital," the eight countries said.
   "The (North Korean) government's decision to prioritize its weapons programs over the needs of its people and their isolation from the international community, is inevitably worsening the impacts of the pandemic on the North Korean population," they argued.