CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, XVII LEGISLATURE, 44th MEETING, 2 JULY 2013.

On 2 July 2013 the deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Lapo Pistelli answered a parliamentary question relating to North Korean aggressive rhetoric and provocations that took place between December 2012 and April 2013. He highlighted the centrality of Security Council resolution 2094 (2013) and the fundamental importance of operating within the frameworks of the NATO and G8 and in cooperation with the European partners when dealing with such issues of international concern as Pyongyang’s nuclear threats and systematic violations of human rights. 

The Italian Government is following with great interest developments on Korean peninsula, together with its European partners and within NATO and G8. While developing a constructive approach toward North Korea – as it is well-known, Italy has been among the first Countries to adopt a policy of openness and almost the first to re-establish diplomatic relations approximately ten years ago – we welcomed the adoption of Resolution 2094 and we fully share the purpose of a pacific and verifiable denuclearization of Korean peninsula.

Finally, we also contributed in drafting the final communiqué of the G8 summit in Lough Erne of 18 June, which condemned North Korean conduct and invited Pyongyang to respect the obligations undertaken in the framework of the Six-party talks of 2005 and those deriving from Security Council resolutions. The G8 Communiqué also states that North Korea should abandon all nuclear weapons and its missile programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible, as already required by resolution 2094.

Similarly, we have repeatedly and firmly condemned the systematic violation of human rights in that Country. This year – also thanks to our contribution – on 21 March 2013, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution of condemnation which establishes an inquiry commission with a mandate to verify several cases of violation of human rights, up to possibly configuring such systematic violation as a crime against humanity. Obviously, together with our European partners and the United Nations, at present we support the sanctioning regimes endorsed within these contexts.

The Italian version of the statement can be found at:  http://documenti.camera.it/leg17/resoconti/assemblea/html/sed0044/stenografico.pdf