News Digest

U.S. secretary of state urges North Korea to close ‘evil’ prison camps

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry denounced human rights abuses in North Korea on Tuesday and called on Pyongyang to shut down its penal colonies riddled with “barbarity and inhumanity.” “You should close those camps, you should shut this evil system down,” Kerry said at an event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly attended by a North Korean who escaped the gulag he was born in. In one of the most comprehensive reports to date, a UN commission of inquiry into the North’s rights detailed a wide range of systemic abuses including murder, enslavement and torture.

No longer can North Korea’s secrecy be seen as an excuse for silence, ignorance or inaction.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry

The commission published findings in February that many of the violations constituted crimes against humanity and suggested they could be placed before the International Criminal Court (ICC). “The veil has been truly lifted,” Kerry told the event in New York bringing together the foreign ministers of South Korea, Japan and Australia, who backed the recommendations of the 400-page report. These include that Pyongyang should dismantle the camps and release all political prisoners. It has also recommended that the UN Security Council should adopt sanctions against those found to be behind human rights abuses in the remote country.