Who Gets Picked On? Politics of North Korean Human Rights Recommendations in UPR

• In Event: Traditional and New Security Issues in Korea

Abstract

Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is the only human rights mechanism with a 100% participation rate, including that of North Korea. Despite the fact that North Korea has participated the previous three cycles not only as a State under Review (SuR) but also an active commenter in state review sessions, it so far only has been considered and analyzed as a passive agent. Using UPR data from 2008 to 2020, this article seeks to answer the question: to whom and how does North Korea make human rights recommendations to other states? Empirical tests show that political closeness with North Korea is the main driving factor influencing its naming and shaming in the UPR system. Findings suggest that politically close states gauged by the UN General Assembly voting similarity receive more backpattings and less condemnations, while politically distant states receive more backpattings and less condemnations despite the inherent difference in their human rights records. This implies that political distantness rather than a simple democratic-autocratic divide closely impacts North Korea’s issuance of recommendation significantly in the UN system. This study further aims to discover a pronounced conduct of politicization of North Korea by taking into account of SUR’s previous history of criticism against it.

Authors

• Haeun Jang, Yonsei University

• Byungwon Woo, Yonsei University