The UN Commission of Inquiry set up to investigate human rights violations in North Korea has presented its interim report.
“What we have seen and heard so far – the specificity, detail and shocking character of the personal testimony – appears without doubt to demand follow-up action by the world community, and accountability on the part of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” said the head of the Commission Michael Kirby.
He reported that, in just-completed public hearings held in South Korea and Japan, “We heard from ordinary people who faced torture and imprisonment for doing nothing more than watching foreign soap operas or holding a religious belief.” His final report is due in March.