UN demands North Korea act on human rights abuses

North Korea should take immediate action to halt further human rights abuses, the UN said in a report today.

Pyongyang should abide by international human rights standards and change laws inconsistent with them, said the 21 page report by Vitit Muntarbhorn, the UN monitor on human rights in North Korea.

The North Korean government also should abide by the four international treaties it has signed on protection against abuses, Muntarbhorn said.

The report was presented to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

Muntarbhorn, a Thai, urged North Korea to reform its justice system, in particular to improve the prison system and abolish capital and corporal punishment, as well as forced labour.

He also said Pyongyang must respect the rule of law and ensure that humanitarian aid reaches people.

Predictably, North Korea rejected the contents of the report, saying it did not accept Muntarbhorn’s mandate to investigate the country’s human rights situation.

“The statement just made by Mr Muntarbhorn appears exactly the same as the plot propaganda perpetrated and persistently pursued by our hostile forces,” said Ri Tcheul, North Korean ambassador to the UN offices in Geneva.