Based on testimonies from 175 North Korean defectors between November 2022 and October 2024, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) disclosed its findings on Wednesday, ahead of the upcoming UN session in Geneva later this month.
More than half of them said that they had suffered various forms of abuse including forced labor, food shortages, and inhumane treatment at detention facilities. They also recounted that their telephones and electronic devices had been "frequently wiretapped."
Their testimonies also revealed that those "considered 'criminals' for accessing or distributing prohibited content were often subjected to public trials reportedly designed to intimidate the population and received disproportionate punishments, including in a few cases execution by firing squad."
Despite these revelations, OHCHR insisted that its efforts to improve human rights "appears to be known" in the renegade country, adding that the "treatment of persons in detention had slightly improved, reportedly due to international scrutiny."
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized the United Nations, while signing an executive order to withdraw from several UN bodies. "It's not being well run, to be honest and they're not doing the job," he said.
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