Ten years after a special United Nations commission found that the North Korean regime's most egregious human rights violations amounted to "crimes against humanity," the U.N. Security Council has yet to make a referral of the case to the International Criminal Court.
A special exhibition highlighting the human rights violations in North Korea is being held for service members, the Ministry of Unification said, Friday.
Civic groups on North Korea s human rights on Friday staged a rally in front of the Chinese Embassy in Seoul, urging Beijing not to send defectors back to their reclusive country amid apparently eased border controls.
Lee Young-ran, a North Korean escapee, had been completely unaware of the nuclear test facility near her hometown in Kilju, North Hamgyong Province, until the regime conducted its third nuclear weapons test there in 2013. When Lee finally realized what was happening less than 30 kilometers from where she lived, she had no idea about the potentially devastating health consequences of such experiments.
“We recognize the courage of the North Korean defector and human rights community, which continues to speak on behalf of the millions of North Koreans suffering abuses," said State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller.