UN Human Rights envoy: time for world to act

Marzuki Darusman, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, speaks in Geneva on March 14, 2016.

Marzuki Darusman, the U.N.’s human rights expert on North Korea has called for the international community to take action on the country.

Speaking in Geneva on Monday, he said “repression remains unabated and the authorities in country continue to exercise the strictest control over all aspects of its citizens’ lives.”

That despite a letter sent two years ago by a U.N. Commission of Inquiry to Kim Jong Un warning him the situation needs to change or he “would then be culpable for the violations that have taken place and that continues to take place in that country.”

Darusman said in light of the lack of any change, it’s time for the world to “move on with the logical next step which is pursuing accountability of the regime and those most responsible for the violations of human rights in the country.”

Here’s the highlights of his briefing with reporters:

An affiliate of 38 North