NHRCK chairperson welcomes the adoption of a resolution on human rights in North Korea at the 58th UN Human Rights Council
-The NHRCK will continue to cooperate with the international community to make improvements -
□ National Human Rights Commission of Korea (hereinafter referred to as the NHRCK) Chairpersonch Ahn Chang-ho welcomes the adoption of the North Korean Human Rights Resolution without a vote and by consensus at the 58th UN Human Rights Council on 3 April 2025, in which 54 countries, including the Republic of Korea, participated as co-sponsors.
○ The UN Human Rights Council has adopted a resolution on the human rights situation in North Korea every year since 2003, reflecting the international community's shared recognition of the gravity of the human rights situation in North Korea.
□ In this UN Human Rights Council resolution, North Korean defectors (especially women and girls) who have been forcibly repatriated or deported to North Korea are given particular focus. The resolution also calls on North Korea to immediately release citizens of the United Nations member states from arbitrary detention, to stop human rights violations such as forced labour and harsh punishment of children that may constitute crimes against humanity, and to prohibit the use of excessive force that causes international security concerns, considering the context of the war in Ukraine.
○ It also expressed concern that North Korea has repeatedly sent only replies lacking meaningful substance to the letters sent by the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) on several occasions.
□ In 2017, the NHRCK submitted a communication to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances under the UN Human Rights Council's Special Procedures for the safe repatriation of South Korean nationals detained in North Korea. In response, the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances began an investigation and sent a letter to North Korea, but due to their uncooperative attitude, such as repeatedly providing only unverified responses, the families of the missing persons are currently unable to know the fate of the victims detained in North Korea, and the situation of serious human rights violations continues.
○ Later, the victim's family filed a complaint with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention again in July 2024, and in March 2025, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled that the arbitrary detention of South Korean nationals Kim Jung-wook, Kim Kook-ki, and Choi Chun-gil by North Korea amounted to an arrest without a warrant and incommunicado detention, and determined that North Korea had violated the right to due process and a fair trial, including the right to legal assistance of counsel, and the right to freedom of expression and conscience in the context of religious activities. It requested the North to not only release them immediately, but also to guarantee their right to compensation, including financial compensation, and to punish those responsible.
○ In this regard, the NHRCK urges the North Korean authorities to take immediate and decisive action on the decision of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. In addition, we hope that the abductees, detainees, and prisoners of war of South Korean nationality who have not been repatriated to date, in addition to the release of missionaries Kim Jung-wook, Kim Kook-ki, and Choi Chun-gil, will be repatriated as soon as possible.
□ The NHRCK expresses deep concern that the systematic, widespread, and grave human rights violations in North Korea have been and continue to be committed for a long time, as mentioned in the resolution of the UN Human Rights Council, and hopes that the issues called for in the resolution will be improved through a constructive shift in stance by the North Korean authorities and constructive cooperation with the international community.
○ In this regard, we hope that the international community will continue to engage in dialogue and cooperation to improve human rights in North Korea at the 60th UN Human Rights Council ‘UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea (COI) Follow-up Report Discussion Conference’ to be held in Geneva, Switzerland in September and the ‘High-Level Plenary Meeting on Human Rights in North Korea’ to be held in New York, USA in the same month. The NHRCK will also work with the international community to improve human rights in North Korea.
7 April 2025.
Ahn Chang-ho
Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission of Korea
