A North Korean woman described how her father died of hunger. Another said that his friends had been executed publicly for watching and shared South Korean television dramas. The Ambassador of North Korea appeared insensitive. When he got up to speak, he described it as a political scheme and described women as “human scum”.
For the first time in its history, the United Nations General Assembly held a high -level full -level meeting focused exclusively on human rights violations in North Korea.
The session, held at the UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday, brought together diplomats, international human rights experts and North Korean escapes to highlight the abuses of the government. The meeting was summoned under a human rights resolution in North Korea adopted by Consensus in December 2024.
Elizabeth Salmón, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on North Korean Human Rights, told the Assembly that the conditions in North Korea have aggravated from the COVVI-19 pandemic.
“North Koreans have lived in an almost total isolation for more than five years,” said Salmón. It cited border closures, severe humanitarian aid and limited access to external information such as key factors aggravating the humanitarian crisis. The newly adopted laws, she added, have further restricted freedom of movement, labor rights and freedom of expression.
Death penalty
In 2020, North Korea adopted anti -ideology law and culture, imposing severe sanctions – including death – to look or distribute foreign media. In 2021, the supreme chief Kim Jong Un published a directive to prevent young people from adopting speech, fashion and South Korean hairstyles. Subsequent laws, such as Pyongyang
Law on the protection of cultural languages, further reduces South Korean and foreign cultural influences. These are collectively known as the “three main oppressive laws” aimed at tightening ideological control.
Two women who had escaped from North Korea and who now live in South Korea have shared personal accounts of life inside the country.
Gyuri Kang, 24, who fled North Korea in 2023 aboard a 10 -meter wooden boat with her mother and aunt, described how the authoritarian diet publicly executed people – including adolescents – for watching or distributed South Korean dramas.
“Three of my friends were executed publicly,” Kang told the Assembly. “Two were killed for distributing South Korean dramas. One was only 19 years old. “
She said the North Korean authorities are determined to keep their people in darkness and prevent them from dreaming of freedom. Kang added that COVVI-19 locking gave the perfect excuse to intensify its repression in the midst of generalized hyperinflation, economic difficulties and hunger caused by the collapse of trade with China.
Fleeing on the river
Eun-Joo Kim, who escaped North Korea in 1999 at the age of 12, told a painful journey marked by loss and exploitation. She said that she had lost her father because of famine at the age of 11, then fled with her mother and sister through the Tumen river which defines a large part of the northern border of North Korea – to be tampered with after her arrival in China.
Kim also described how North Korean soldiers are deployed in the Russian-Ukraine war without knowing their location or reasons to fight.
“They don't even know where they are or why they are fighting,” she said. “Meanwhile, parents at home live in pain, not knowing if their sons will come back.”
North Korea has recently confirmed the deployment of troops to support Russia in the Ukrainian conflict, acting on the orders of Kim Jong Une, and said that it had helped recover the Russian territory owned by Ukrainian forces.
Human foam
The North Korean delegation, led by ambassador Song Kim, firmly condemned the meeting as a “political scheme”. Kim disrected the escapes and said that the meeting was aimed at undermining the dignity and sovereignty of North Korea.
“What is more deplorable is the invitation of human foam that even betrayed their own parents and families,” said Kim. “The RPDC delegation categorically rejects and strongly condemns this meeting, which was summoned with the political aim of undermining the dignity and sovereignty of our state.”
The RPDC represents the official name of the North, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
China and Russia also criticized the meeting, saying that it was held without the consent of North Korea and questioned its legitimacy.
The General Assembly is the main deliberative and political body at the United Nations. Each Member State is represented there. His resolutions have a political weight, but do not link the Member States.
Greg Scarlatoiu, president of the United States non-governmental committee for human rights in North Korea, said the regime in Pyongyang has become a global threat, citing arms exports to Russia and militant groups in the Middle East via Iran.
“The threat of North Korea is now going far beyond Northeast Asia,” Scarlatoiu told the Assembly. “Its roots reside in systematic human rights violations of the regime.”
Sean Chung, executive director of the Canada Rights Defense Group, Han Voice, said that the Rights of the Rights of the North Korea were closely linked to its military ambitions. He urged UN member states to establish an independent expert mechanism under the General Assembly to investigate the links between North Korea human rights violations and threats to world peace and security.
Edited by Mat Pennington.