The U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in North Korea has urged Pyongyang to allow himself and other U.N. human rights officials to enter the country to monitor the North’s human rights situation.

Wrapping up a one-week visit to South Korea Thursday, Vitit Muntarbhorn said in a news conference that the North must improve the human rights conditions of its people, calling on Pyongyang to abide by global human rights accords as a member of such treaties.

During his stay in the South, the U.N. official met with officials of human rights-related government agencies and non-governmental organizations and held discussions with North Korean defectors.

A former Thai law professor, Muntarbhorn was appointed by the United Nations last year to report on human rights in North Korea; but Pyongyang has blocked him from entering the country.

Muntarbhorn’s visit comes ahead of a vote expected later this month at the U.N. General Assembly on an E.U.-backed resolution that condemns North Korea for its human rights abuses.

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