Human rights organizations and advocacy groups on Monday gathered in the Netherlands to discuss North Korean human rights.

The forum held in The Hague addressed the seriousness of human rights abuses and crimes against humanity in North Korea.

The meeting was organized by the South Korean Embassy in the Netherlands, the International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea and two nonprofit foundations.

North Korean defector Kim Hyung-soo, who worked as a researcher at the Long Life Health Institute in North Korea, shared his story of rights violations in the North.

During the discussion, Kim said he was tortured after being caught listening to South Korean broadcasts and his elderly mother was tortured to death after attempting to escape the North.

The defector said that these crimes and abuses are rather systematically carried out against all North Koreans.

David Hawk, a member of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said that it will be impossible to refer the issue to the International Criminal Court in the near future with China and Russia's opposition. He said, however, that the two nations will find it difficult to keep the position if the international community brings up the issue strongly and persistently.

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