UN office in Seoul looking into NK rights violations

By Jun Ji-hye

A United Nations office in Seoul has begun an investigation into North Korea’s human rights abuses by interviewing defectors from the repressive nation, government officials said Monday.

“Since February, the U.N. office has been visiting Hanawon, a resettlement center for North Korean defectors, to interview defectors and ask about crimes against humanity in the North,” a Ministry of Unification official told reporters on condition of anonymity. “The government has approved the office’s request to conduct interviews with North Korean defectors.”

In June last year, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights opened a field office in Seoul to monitor and document human rights violations in the secretive state. Establishing the office was among the recommendations made by the U.N. Commission of Inquiry (COI) in its landmark report released in February 2014.

Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee also told a regular briefing that the government is cooperating with the U.N. office on the latter’s investigation, adding, “We will continue to work together not only with the U.N., but also with other countries to improve human rights in the North.”

The U.N. office has been conducting written interviews with North Korean defectors at Hanawon that offers a three-month resettlement education for defectors. Then, the office will carry out in-depth face-to-face interviews, if necessary, according to officials.

The North’s human rights problem has drawn greater international attention since the COI report stated that North Korean leaders are responsible for “widespread, systematic and gross” violations of human rights, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) should handle North Korea’s “crimes against humanity.”

The report led the U.N. General Assembly to adopt a landmark resolution calling for the issue to be referred to the ICC.

Pyongyang has bristled at international criticism, calling it a U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime.

For its part, South Korea is seeking to establish a center tasked with better looking into the North’s human rights record and setting up an archive to preserve written testimony and other resources on related issues under the wing of the ministry.

The envisioned establishment comes after a new law aimed at improving Pyongyang’s dismal treatment of its people was passed early last month after years of political wrangling between conservatives and liberals.

Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye