The UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea has asked Pyongyang to provide details about the pardons it said it would grant in October. 

In a letter addressed to the North that was disclosed on the UN website Tuesday, Elizabeth Salmón said if the North granted pardons to political prisoners, the move would be a positive one given that the UN has continually advised the North to release those accused of crimes against the state. 

In particular, Salmón asked if North Korean escapee Kim Chol-ok and missionaries Kim Jung-wook, Kim Kook-ki and Choi Chun-gil, who were forcibly repatriated to the North from China, were among those pardoned. 

The North has yet to respond to the UN official’s letter.

In September, the standing committee of the North’s Supreme People’s Assembly decided to grant pardons to those found guilty of crimes against the state and the people, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea on October 10 of last year.