VP/HR — The reopening of the EU-DPRK Human Rights Dialogue

17.9.2014

Question for written answer E-006955-14
to the Commission (Vice-President/High Representative)
Rule 130
Nirj Deva (ECR)

Following my meeting with the North Korean High Level delegation led by H.E. Mr Kang Sok Ju (a member of the DPRK’s politburo, director of the Korean Workers’ Party’s International Affairs Department and — I am told — the highest-ranking North Korean to have visited Brussels), I was informed by participants of a number of interesting developments that occurred subsequently to the delegation’s departure.

In light of these allegations, can the High Representative confirm that the High Level North Korean delegation has proposed to EU Special Representative for Human Rights Stavros Lambrinidis that it should return to Brussels as part of an on-going dialogue aimed at reopening the EU-DPRK Human Rights Dialogue that was suspended in 2003?

If this is indeed the case, is it also correct that Mr Lambrinidis has been invited to visit Pyongyang in the near future?