South Korea’s vice foreign minister has urged the international community to pay attention to human rights in North Korea as well as security threats from the presence of North Korean troops in Russia, saying that military cooperation between the two nations is complicating the human rights situation in the North. 

According to the foreign ministry, second vice minister Kang In-sun advanced that view on Tuesday during the high-level segment of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

In a keynote speech, Kang said the issue of human rights in North Korea is increasingly intertwined with international peace and security due to the country’s illicit military cooperation with Russia. 

Expressing concerns about the inhumane treatment of North Korean defectors who were forcibly repatriated, the vice minister urged the North to immediately release South Korean detainees in the North and resolve the cases of all abductees and South Korean prisoners of war.

Kang also called on countries to abide by the international principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits countries from returning asylum seekers or refugees to countries where they may face persecution, torture or serious harm.