ROK VIEWS ON UNHRC ELECTION--AGAINST BELARUS, FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 001404

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR U/S BURNS FROM AMBASSADOR VERSHBOW

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/10/2017
TAGS: PHUM PREL UNHRC KS
SUBJECT: ROK VIEWS ON UNHRC ELECTION--AGAINST BELARUS, FOR
SLOVENIA

REF: A. STATE 63345

B. SEOUL 1286

C. 06 SEOUL 3962

Classified By: Amb. Alexander Vershbow. Reasons 1.4 (b/d)


1. (C) Nick: We enjoy good cooperation with the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and Trade on UN Human Rights Council (HRC)
issues and have been told that the ROK will oppose the
Belarus bid for a seat on the HRC. MOFAT told us on two
occasions on May 2 (Ref B) and again on May 10, that Seoul
would not vote for Belarus due to its human rights
violations, even if Belarus ran unopposed. We have
confidence in this assessment. The ROKG clearly finds
Belarus's human rights record abhorrent. Also, this is a
relatively easy vote for the ROKG. Last October, even before
we demarched MOFAT, the ROKG had decided to reject
retaliatory anti-U.S. resolutions proposed by Belarus in the
UN Third Committee (Ref C). We are also confident that Seoul
will support the UNHRC candidacy of Slovenia, which has been
confirmed to us on two occasions.


2. (C) As to whether the ROKG will support a Bosnian bid,
initial signs are positive. On May 10, our MOFAT
interlocutor said he was unaware that Bosnia had announced it
was a candidate. However, in light of Bosnia's steadily
improving human rights situation, he saw no reason why Seoul
could not support Bosnia, unless a better fourth candidate
emerged. He undertook to pass USG points on Bosnia (Ref A)
to higher authorities.
VERSHBOW