N. Korean Human Rights

[Anchor Lead]

The UN Security Council has denounced dire human rights conditions in North Korea for the fourth consecutive year. South Korean Ambassador to the UN Cho Tae-yul emphasized that North Korea's nuclear program and human rights violations are inseparable issues like the two sides of a coin.

[Pkg]

North Korea's human rights violations have been adopted as an official issue of the UN Security Council for the fourth straight year. It is a very unusual move over an individual country's human rights issue. Despite China and Russia's attempts to block it, the adoption was made with support from ten out of 15 UNSC member countries.

[Soundbite] Nikki Haley (U.S. Ambassador to the UN)

Discussions focused on human rights violations in political prisoner camps, the repatriation of North Korean escapees and the issue of foreign nationals detained by North Korean authorities. The UNSC also condemned the regime for diverting a massive amount of resources into nuclear and missile tests, which aggravates the sufferings of North Korean people.

[Soundbite] Cho Tae-yul (South Korean Ambassador to the UN)

Ji Hyun-ah escaped from North Korea and was repatriated multiple times. But she finally fled from the North. She said that she made her first escape in 1993 with her father who listened to KBS radio broadcasts.
Ji testified that streams of North Korean people risk their lives to escape from brutal massacre.

[Soundbite] Ji Hyun-ah (North Korean Escapee) : "North Korea is one horrible prison. The Kim family is committing genocide."

Ji called for concerted international efforts to improve human rights conditions in North Korea by quoting a Dutch poet as saying that the door of a prison must be opened from outside.