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A UN panel that has been probing North Korea's human rights violations over the past year
presented its final report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.
Facing strong opposition from the North and its ally China, the Commission of Inquiry
wants to make a case at the International Criminal Court.
Choi You-sun reports. A special UN commission on North Korean human rights has urged the
international community's efforts to improve rights conditions in the reclusive state.
Reporting to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, the panel of inquiry said
systematic and widespread crimes of humanity committed by the leadership in Pyongyang must
no longer be neglected.
"Allow humanitarian assistance in accordance with humanitarian and human rights principles.
Allow separated families to communicate with each other through mail and telephone and
to permanently reunite."
Comparing the North Korean situation to Nazi Germany, the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror
in Cambodia and apartheid South Africa, commission chair Michael Kirby talked about taking the
case to the International Criminal Court. Dismissing the panel report, the North Korean
ambassador So Se-pyong accused the U.S. and its allies of hostile intentions behind the
findings. China, the North's biggest ally, also questioned
the credibility of the report, which is based on testimonies outside the regime.
Pyongyang did not cooperate with the probe. Responding to Kirby's calls to stop repatriating
North Korean escapees, Beijing referred to them as "illegal migrants."
China's objection casts doubt over any future UN actions on the issue, since it is a veto-wielding
permanent Security Council member. Also during Monday's session, a member of
the Japanese delegation whose daughter is presumed to have been abducted to North Korea
in 1978 got a chance to speak, prompting the North Korean ambassador to walk out in protest.
Choi You-sun, Arirang News.