Canada to boycott UN disarmament body

The federal government has announced it will boycott the UN’s Conference on Disarmament to protest North Korea winning its chairmanship. The body serves as a venue for disarmament negotiations between member countries and is especially focused on nuclear disarmament. The irony of having the North Korean delegation, which has been aggressively pursuing nuclear weapons development, was not lost on Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, who announced the boycott on Monday. "It’s just unacceptable and it’s frankly wrong," he said. Baird added Canada would return to the forum after August 19, once North Korea will be done presiding over it, and will seek to change its current system of a rotating presidency.

CBC News