LIST OF NEWS / STORIES
A former prison guard from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) turned human rights activists is playing an impotant role in shedding light on human rights violations in the DPRK.
Meet Insoo and Yeonbi from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Insoo crossed rivers, ran through mountains and travelled across several countries to make his escape to freedom in the Republic of Korea.
Women detained in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) are subjected to multiple and serious human rights violations by State security and police officials according to a UN human rights report published on Tuesday.
UN human rights experts* today urged the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to repatriate hundreds of people abducted during and after the Korean War and end decades of anguish for the families of those taken.
GENEVA / SEOUL – A UN independent expert is alarmed that widespread food shortages and malnutrition in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) have been exacerbated by COVID-19 measures and has called for urgent Government and international action to ensure food supplies.
Governments worldwide and the international financial institutions should remain true to their commitment under the 2030 agenda and to their promise “to leave no one behind” in their response to the COVID crisis, a UN human rights expert said today.
Broad sectoral sanctions should urgently be re-evaluated in countries facing the coronavirus pandemic, in light of their potentially debilitating impact on the health sector and human rights, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said Tuesday.
High Commissioner for Human Rights Presents Oral Updates on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and on Venezuela, Council Starts General Debate on Human Rights Situations that Require the Council's Attention.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea, Tomás Ojea Quintana, has urged North Korea and the international community to join forces to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
UN human rights experts urge the DPRK to repatriate 11 individuals who were forcibly disappeared 50 years ago after their domestic flight in the Republic of Korea was hijacked.
A UN human rights expert said North Korea’s economic resources were being diverted away from the essential needs of the people as food insecurity remained at alarming levels.
“North Korea is at a historical crossroads. If the right and just decisions are made, a peaceful and prosperous Korean Peninsula will appear on the horizon,” said UN human rights expert Tomás Ojea Quintana.
HanByeol Lee’s last memory of North Korea was seeing a two-year old girl who had lost her parents, wandering the streets, crying. She was only 17 when she escaped the country to South Korea
People in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) are trapped in a vicious cycle, in which the failure of the State to provide for life’s basic necessities forces them to turn to rudimentary markets where they face a host of human rights violations in an uncertain legal environment, according to a new UN human rights report.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has expressed hope that the UN’s ‘peer review’ process will persuade authorities in North Korea to change direction and to prioritise improving the lives of ordinary citizens.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea’s human rights record will be examined by the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group for the third time on Thursday, 9 May 2019 in a meeting that will be webcast live.
The Human Rights Council today held an interactive dialogue with Tomas Ojea Quintana, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Next week, the leaders of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the United States of America will hold a second historic summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, raising renewed hope for concrete and meaningful steps towards creating a more peaceful Korean Peninsula.
Reflecting on breakthroughs that brought an easing of tensions on the Korean peninsula in the past year, the UN’s human rights expert on North Korea said that 2019 represented “a critical test, not only for peace and denuclearisation but for human rights”.
OHCHR Seoul Office calls for the integration of human rights into high-level diplomacy on peace and security in the Korean Peninsula.
A UN expert on North Korea said there had not been any substantial improvement in human rights in the country even as détente takes hold on the peninsula, imploring the world to learn from past experience that it is essential to put human rights at the centre of any strategy to build a lasting peace.
The reunion of separated North and South Korean families has been welcomed by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Tomás Ojea Quintana, has urged North Korea to open a parallel track for dialogue on human rights alongside peace and denuclearisation.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Tomás Ojea Quintana, will visit Seoul from 2 to 10 July. This will be the UN expert’s first official mission to Seoul since the easing of tensions on the Korean peninsula.
GENEVA – A United Nations human rights expert has welcomed the release of three US nationals by North Korea, saying the move was “another important building block for the prospects of peace” for the two Koreas and beyond.
GENEVA – The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People`s Republic of Korea, Tomás Ojea Quintana, has warned the States involved in any denuclearisation negotiations that avoiding the topic of human rights in North Korea could jeopardise sustainable agreements in the future.
Welcoming rapprochement on the Korean peninsula, including possible discussions about denuclearisation, the UN Special Rapporteur, Tomás Ojea Quintana, called on the DPRK Government to take the opportunity to open up to UN human rights mechanisms.
GENEVA / SEOUL – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Tomás OJEA QUINTANA, will visit Seoul from 17 to 21 July.
A United Nations Special Rapporteur has called for respect for the human rights of detainees in North Korea, after the release of US student Otto Warmbier earlier this week.
A United Nation human rights expert on North Korea has backed proposals to resume family reunions for people separated since the 1950-1953 war, stressing that time is running out for many elderly relatives.
GENEVA (15 May 2017) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Catalina Devandas-Aguilar, welcomed a number of positive steps on disability issues taken by the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, but noted that “there is still a long way to go to realize the rights of persons with disabilities in the DPRK.”
An urgent appeal to lower political and military tensions on the Korean Peninsula over continued missile tests by the authorities in Pyongyang is being made by a United Nations expert, who says the war of words is already having an impact on citizens.
A United Nationa Rights expert has appealed to the Governments and civil society organizations to put people squarely at the center of their approaches to improve the human rights situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
The new United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Tomás OJEA QUINTANA, will visit for the first time the Republic of Korea from 16 to 22 November, and Japan from 23 to 26 November 2016.
A United Nations rights expert has called on the international community to adopt a common and principled approach to the protection of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The new United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Tomás Ojea Quintana, today called for increased support for the victims of Typhoon Lionrock which devastated the North-Eastern part of the country.
Mr. Tomás Ojea Quintana serves as the third Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as of 1 August, 2016. Mr. Quintana is a lawyer, with more than 14 years of activities in the field of human rights.
GENEVA/SEOUL – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the DPRK, Marzuki Darusman, urges the Government of the Russian Federation not to implement the extradition treaty signed with the DPRK earlier this month.
TOKYO (22 January 2016) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Marzuki Darusman, today called on the international community to further all efforts to improve the human rights situation in the country.
GENEVA / TOKYO (13 January 2016) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Marzuki Darusman, will visit Japan from 18 to 22 January 2016 to assess the latest developments regarding the DPRK and discuss ways to ensure accountability for gross human rights violations in the country, including abductions.
SEOUL (26 November 2015) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Marzuki Darusman, today warned that nothing has changed in the country since the UN Commission of Inquiry on DPRK presented its landmark report* to the UN Human Rights Council two years ago.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Marzuki Darusman, will visit the Republic of Korea (ROK) from 6 to 10 September 2015 to assess recent changes in inter-Korean relation and their implications for the human rights of the North Korean people.
GENEVA/SEOUL (22 June 2015) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein on Tuesday begins a three-day official visit to Seoul, South Korea, where he will open a new UN Human Rights office to work on the human rights situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly referred to as North Korea.
Continuing his official visit to Republic of Korea, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at two forums today highlighted the importance of youth, education and information communication technologies (ICTs) in shaping the future sustainable development agenda.
19 May 2015 – Education is not a privilege but rather a birthright that secures human rights and fights violent extremism, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today in Incheon, Republic of Korea, as he opened the World Education Forum 2015 which aims to set the roadmap for global education until 2030.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced he will visit an industrial complex in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday, saying that he hoped the rare trip “will provide positive impetus to further develop it and expand to other areas” to promote inter-Korean relations.
The United Nations today called for some $111 million to fund its humanitarian operations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DRPK) in 2015, covering activities in food and agriculture, health and nutrition, and water and sanitation.
In his introductory statement to the Agency’s Board of Governors, the head of the United Nations atomic energy watchdog said he remains “seriously concerned” about nuclear programme of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and that he is not yet in a position to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is used for peaceful purposes.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Marzuki Darusman, will visit Tokyo from 19 to 23 January 2015 to follow up on his previous information-gathering mission in April 2014.