A U.N. human rights investigator has accused North Korea of widespread human rights abuses.

Vitit Muntarbhorn, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, denounced the North's practice of "collective punishment based upon guilt by association," imposed on family members of people accused of a political or ideological crime.

In the first such U.N. report on the North, Muntarbhorn voiced concern that detainees were held without due process "under appalling conditions compounded by wide-ranging allegations of torture, forced labor and lack of access to legal help."

Muntarbhorn, a Thai law professor, also said Pyongyang should provide redress for the abduction of Japanese and other foreign nationals.

He further said that systematic efforts were needed to resolve the issue of Korean families separated before, during and after the 1950-53 Korean War.