The UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner(OHCHR) released a report on Tuesday on the crime of enforced disappearances and related violations by North Korea.

The report titled “These Wounds Do Not Heal; Enforced disappearance and abductions by North Korea,” is based on 80 in-depth interviews conducted by the OHCHR from 2016 to 2022 with victims of such disappearances and their relatives as well as North Korean escapees and foreign nationals who were abducted to the regime but later escaped.

The report assessed that victims of enforced disappearance have endured continuous human rights violations for over decades.

In the report, the OHCHR called on Pyongyang to “acknowledge the occurrence of enforced disappearances, including those described in this report.”

It also urged the reclusive state to “take immediate steps to end such violations, including by immediately returning abduction victims and releasing people detained on political grounds.”

It also stressed the need for the North to “ensure full accountability for the crime of enforced disappearance by undertaking independent, impartial and thorough investigations into allegations of such violations and to hold those responsible to account.”