Cheong Wa Dae on the 13th said regarding the government's abstention in the U.N. vote on a resolution holding Israel responsible for human rights violations, "We sympathized with the intent, but we abstained in that the resolution needs to address the positions of the relevant parties in a more balanced manner."

Senior Presidential Spokesperson Kang Yu-jung briefs on current issues, including the South Korea–Poland summit, at Chunchugwan in the Blue House on the 13th. /Courtesy of News1

Cheong Wa Dae announced this through a notice to the media the same day, saying, "The government comprehensively considered various factors such as our basic position on universal human rights, the detailed text of the resolution, and the positions of countries with similar views, and abstained on the resolution."

In particular, regarding President Lee Jae-myung's earlier strong criticism on social media, where the Israeli military's anti-human rights acts were likened to the "Holocaust," Cheong Wa Dae said, "The president's message emphasized the importance of universal human rights and international humanitarian law, and was not an expression of a position on a specific resolution or individual policy," adding, "The government will continue to work with the international community so that the human rights of all parties are protected and the conflict can be resolved peacefully."

Earlier, on the 27th of last month (local time), at the 61st session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, the government abstained on one of the three resolutions related to Palestinian human rights, the resolution on "investigating the human rights situation and punishing perpetrators (establishing accountability)" in occupied territories including the Gaza Strip.

This abstention drew criticism that it clashes with the president's message posted directly on X (formerly Twitter) emphasizing universal human rights. On the 10th, the president shared a video of Israeli soldiers in 2024 pushing Palestinians off rooftops in the Gaza Strip and wrote, "Human rights are non-negotiable under any circumstances," adding, "(The actions of the Israeli military) are no different from the genocide of Jews."

After the Israeli Foreign Ministry issued an unusual direct rebuke, saying it "strongly condemns" it, Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 11th also expressed regret, saying, "They misunderstood the intent of the remarks."

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