UN Human Rights Chief calling for North Korean inquiry

NEW YORK—While most eyes are focused on North Korea’s nuclear program, a top commissioner for the United Nations says the world’s focus should turn to possible human rights violations in the country.

Navi Pillay, the UN’s Human Rights Chief, is calling for a full-fledged international inquiry into the situation in North Korea.

Last month, she met with two survivors of North Korea’s political camps.

Today, Pillay’s spokesperson talked to UNTV about the situation in North Korea.

Rupert Colville said, “A camp system that is believed to hold 200,000, no one really knows for sure. Some of whom were born there; spend pretty much all their lives there. A situation where they can be executed for pretty much nothing, for just saying a few things that aren’t politically correct, where people are tortured, women reportedly raped by camp guards; a complete lack of rule of law of any sort.”

He went on to say the region’s nuclear program should not detract attention from the human rights situation in the country.

Colville said, “Enough is enough. There really needs to be serious international focus on the human rights situation because currently that isn’t happening really. The attention is all on the nuclear issue, on the launching of rockets, but this drastically awful situation of millions of North Koreans is pretty much off the international radar.”

More than 40 organizations are also urging the United Nations to look into the human rights situation.