North Korean escapees speak at UN General Assembly, drawing anger from Pyongyang

[ad_1] One North Korean girl described how her father died of hunger. One other mentioned her mates have been publicly executed for watching and sharing South Korean tv dramas. North Korea’s ambassador appeared unmoved. When he acquired as much as converse, he described it as a political scheme and labeled the ladies as “human scum.”

For the primary time in its historical past, the United Nations Basic Meeting has held a high-level plenary assembly targeted solely on human rights abuses in North Korea.

Video: United Nations Basic Meeting holds session on human rights abuses in North Korea The session, held at U.N. headquarters in New York on Tuesday, introduced collectively diplomats, worldwide human rights specialists, and North Korean escapees to highlight the federal government’s abuses. The assembly was convened below a North Korea human rights decision adopted by consensus in December 2024.

Elizabeth Salmón, the U.N. particular rapporteur on North Korean human rights, advised the meeting that circumstances in North Korea have sharply worsened because the COVID-19 pandemic.

“North Koreans have lived in near-total isolation for over 5 years,” Salmón mentioned. She cited border closures, extreme restrictions on humanitarian help, and restricted entry to outdoors data as key components worsening the humanitarian disaster. Newly adopted legal guidelines, she added, have additional restricted freedom of motion, labor rights, and freedom of expression.

Dying penalty In 2020, North Korea handed the Anti-Reactionary Ideology and Tradition Act, imposing harsh penalties — together with loss of life — for watching or distributing overseas media. In 2021, supreme chief Kim Jong Un issued a directive to forestall younger folks from adopting South Korean speech, vogue, and hairstyles. Subsequent legal guidelines, such because the Pyongyang

Cultural Language Safety Act, additional curtailed South Korean and overseas cultural influences. These are collectively often called the “three main oppressive legal guidelines” geared toward tightening ideological management.

Two girls who had escaped from North Korea and now reside in South Korea shared private accounts of life contained in the nation.

Gyuri Kang, 24, who fled North Korea in 2023 aboard a 10-meter wood boat along with her mom and aunt, described how the authoritarian regime publicly executed folks — together with youngsters — for watching or distributing South Korean dramas.

North Korean escapee Gyuri Kang addresses the United Nations Basic Meeting Could 20, 2025. (UN WebTV) “Three of my mates have been publicly executed,” Kang advised meeting. “Two have been killed for distributing South Korean dramas. One was simply 19 years previous.”

She mentioned North Korean authorities are decided to maintain their folks at midnight and forestall them from dreaming of freedom. Kang added that the COVID-19 lockdowns gave the regime the proper excuse to accentuate its crackdown amid widespread hyperinflation, financial hardship, and starvation brought on by the collapse of commerce with China.

Fled throughout the river Eun-joo Kim, who escaped North Korea in 1999 at age 12, recounted a harrowing journey marked by loss and exploitation. She mentioned she misplaced her father to hunger at age 11, then fled along with her mom and sister throughout the Tumen River that defines a big part of North Korea’s northern border — solely to be trafficked after arriving in China.

North Korean escapee Eun-joo Kim addresses the United Nations Basic Meeting Could 20, 2025. (UN WebTV) Kim additionally described how North Korean troopers are being deployed to the Russia-Ukraine battle with out understanding their location or the explanations for combating.

“They don’t even know the place they're or why they're combating,” she mentioned. “In the meantime, mother and father again house reside in ache, not understanding whether or not their sons will return.”

North Korea has lately confirmed deploying troops to assist Russia within the Ukraine battle, performing on orders from Kim Jong Un, and claimed to have helped reclaim Russian territory held by Ukrainian forces.

Human scum The North Korean delegation, led by Ambassador Track Kim, strongly condemned the assembly as a “political scheme.” Kim disparaged the escapees and mentioned the assembly aimed to undermine the dignity and sovereignty of North Korea.

“What's extra deplorable is the invitation of human scum who've even betrayed their very own mother and father and households,” Kim mentioned. “The DPRK delegation categorically rejects and strongly condemns this assembly, which was convened with the political goal of undermining the dignity and sovereignty of our state.”

North Korean ambassador Track Kim addresses the United Nations Basic Meeting Could 20, 2025. (UN WebTV) DPRK stands for the North’s official identify, the Democratic Folks’s Republic of Korea.

China and Russia additionally criticized the assembly, saying it was held with out the consent of North Korea and questioned its legitimacy.

The Basic Meeting is the principle deliberative and policy-making physique on the United Nations. Each member state is represented there. Its resolutions have political weight, however should not binding on member states.

Greg Scarlatoiu, president of the U.S.-based nongovernment Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, mentioned the regime in Pyongyang has turn into a world menace, citing arms exports to Russia and militant teams within the Center East through Iran.

“North Korea’s menace now reaches far past Northeast Asia,” Scarlatoiu advised the meeting. “Its roots lie within the regime’s systematic human rights abuses.”

Sean Chung, government director of Canada-based rights group Han Voice, advised the meeting North Korea’s rights abuses are carefully tied to its army ambitions. He urged U.N. member states to determine an unbiased skilled mechanism below the Basic Meeting to analyze hyperlinks between North Korea’s human rights violations and threats to international peace and safety.