UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea Elizabeth Salmón said on Monday that the regime suffered from freezing deaths during the January cold snaps and concerns abound over access to food, medicine and health care.

Voice of America reported on Tuesday that Salmón made the remarks during an Interactive Dialogue with the UN Human Rights Council held at UN headquarters in Geneva, adding that border closures have allowed the regime to step up control of its people and politicize the development of weapons.

She said North Korean women have lost their means of living due to decreased market activity while people's access to information and their right to freely move have also deteriorated. 

The rapporteur called for action by the international community, such as criminal prosecution to hold to account those responsible for human rights violations in the North.

She also urged the suspension of forced repatriation of North Korean defectors held in China, as those returned to the North are in danger of being detained in camps for political prisoners.

South Korean ambassador on North Korean human rights Lee Shin-hwa also spoke at the meeting and deplored the country's humanitarian situation as the result of a diversion of resources into reckless military provocations.