Release of the Final Report of the UN Commission of Inquiry into the Human Rights Situation in the D.P.R.K.
Press Statement
Marie Harf
Deputy Department Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
February 17, 2014
We strongly welcome and support the final report released by the UN Human Rights Council Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (D.P.R.K.), which provides compelling evidence of widespread, systematic, and grave human rights violations by the D.P.R.K. The COI report reflects the international community’s consensus view that the human rights situation in the D.P.R.K. is among the world’s worst. We urge the D.P.R.K. to take concrete steps – as recommended by the COI – to improve the human rights situation for the North Korean people.
The COI’s investigation – through, for example, its public hearings in Seoul, Tokyo, London, and Washington – clearly and unequivocally documents the brutal reality of the D.P.R.K.’s human rights abuses. We continue to work actively with our partners and with international organizations to raise awareness of and address the deplorable human rights conditions in the D.P.R.K.
The United States was proud to co-sponsor, along with Japan, the EU, and the R.O.K., the resolution at the UN Human Rights Council that established the COI in March 2013. We look forward to thoroughly reviewing the report and discussing its recommendations with our partners, who share our deep concern about the human rights situation in North Korea. We look forward to the COI’s presentation of its report in front of the UN Human Rights Council in March.
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