NK official visits London to lobby about human rights issues

A senior North Korean diplomat visited London earlier this month to mitigate the international pressure on the military state regarding its human rights record of alleged abuses.

The trip to the U.K. capital that took place from Dec. 9 through 11, was part of a European trip that also took Kim Son-gyong, director-general for European affairs at the North's Foreign Ministry, to Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Poland.

During his visit to London, Kim reportedly held meetings with Fiona Bruce, a member of parliament who co-chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea, as well as officials at the foreign ministry, Yonhap news agency reported, quoting an official at the South Korean Embassy. Kim asserted that North Korea is making efforts to improve its human rights record, the report added.

The visit came after the Third Committee of the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution on Nov. 19 that, for the second consecutive year, calls for referring North Korea to the International Criminal Court for human rights violations. The resolution led to the U.N. Security Council holding its second-ever meeting about the North Korean human rights problem on Dec. 10 following the first meeting last year. The resolution was later formally adopted at the General Assembly on Dec. 18.

North Korea has long been considered by global watchdogs as one of the world’s worst human rights violators.