The United Nations(UN) special rapporteur on North Korea's human rights, who is currently visiting South Korea, met with families affected by the North's provocative actions.

On Thursday, Tomas Ojea Quintana met with the older brother of a South Korean government official who was shot and killed by the North Korean military after he went missing in waters near the western border in September 2020.

A petition from the family urged the UN and the international community to conduct a joint fact-finding investigation into the incident to determine what rights violations were suffered by both South and North Koreans.

Quintana also met with Hwang In-cheol, the son of one of eleven South Korean abductees who were onboard a Korean Air flight that was hijacked by the North in 1969. Hwang asked Quintana to relay a message to Seoul, advising it to demand that Pyongyang release the abductees.

Hwang also delivered a petition in which he and family members of other abductees urged the international community to more actively and and assertively insist that the North release and repatriate their loved ones.

The UN rapporteur plans to attend a meeting with lawmakers on Friday to discuss the North's rights abuses before a visit to border areas on Saturday. He is scheduled to hold a press conference next Wednesday to talk about his findings on this trip, and is expected to submit a report to the UN Human Rights Council next month.