North Korea acknowledges labor camps for 1st time

North Korea publicly acknowledged the existence of its labor camps for the first time Tuesday, an admission that appeared to come in response to a highly critical U.N. human rights report earlier this year. Diplomats for the reclusive, impoverished country also told reporters that a top North Korea official has visited the headquarters of the European Union and expressed interest in dialogue, with discussions on human rights expected next year.

Both in law and practice, we do have reform through labor detention camps — no, detention centers — where people are improved through their mentality and look on their wrongdoings.

Choe Myong Nam, a North Korean foreign ministry official

The North Korean briefing concerned a lengthy human rights report it released last month in response to a U.N. commission of inquiry that concluded the authoritarian government had committed crimes against humanity. The report’s release in February put the North on the defensive. Its acknowledgement Tuesday of the reform camps, and its overture to the EU rights chief, were signs that Pyongyang now realizes the discussion of its human rights record won’t fade away, said Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.

We dare say that the case of human rights in the DPRK exceeds all others in duration, intensity and horror.

U.N. commission head Michael Kirby to the Security Council in April