A group of human rights experts from around the world gathered in Sogang University in downtown Seoul on Monday for a three-day forum to discuss the human rights situation in North Korea.

Organized by a civic group and six graduate schools in South Korea, the International Conference on North Korean Human Rights & Refugees is being held for its 6th year.

The head of the Seoul-based Citizen's Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, Yoon Hyun, noted that North's human rights issue has become an international agenda and urged the global community for consistent interest and support regarding the matter.

In particular, president Carl Gershman of the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy, which has been assisting the conference from its first year, stressed that addressing the North Korean human rights issue is the key to achieving peace, reunification and reconciliation between the two Koreas.