A U.N. special rapporteur on North Korea human rights issues has urged the international community to work together to improve situations in the North and bring to justice those responsible for human rights abuses in the regime.
 
U.N. special rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana, made the calls during a UN Human Rights Council(UNHRC) session dedicated to North Korean human rights issues on Monday.
 
Quintana said the UN had tried to secure information from the North in order to establish hard facts about their human rights situations, but the regime has refused to cooperate.
 
He said the international community needs to not only investigate the North but also punish them so that the regime will comply with a joint investigation on the issue and respect the international norms.
 
Mentioning the recent murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half-brother Kim Jong-nam, Quintana said the incident shows the reality of the human rights situation in the North, calling it a death penalty without trial.
 
He also called on the countries to take interest in the dire working conditions faced by North Korean workers overseas, stressing that they are required to pay a large portion of their salaries to the North Korean regime as a token of loyalty.
 
He said the human rights situation in the North is worsening with the passing of time, emphasizing the necessity to impose a criminal punishment on the North Korean regime over anti-humanitarian crimes. 

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