Situation of Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

A/RES/70/172View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 72c Human rights situations and reports of special rapporteurs and representatives, published in 2016.

What else is in this group?

38 documents · 2006–2026

Newer documents in this group exist (latest: 2026).

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2026	A/HRC/RES/61/27	Situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea	4,711	–
2025	A/RES/80/220	Situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea	6,518	–
2025	A/HRC/RES/58/17	Situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea	6,041	–
2024	A/RES/79/181	Situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea	6,886	–
2024	A/HRC/RES/55/21	Situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea	5,700	–

This group bundles related documents that are not individually ordered.

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report · 2016

Year	Symbol	Title		Mandate resolution
2016	A/71/439	Situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea report of the Secretary-General		A/RES/70/172

What subjects does this mandate have?

7 subjects

Civil and Political Rights Democratic People's Republic of Korea Disappearance of Persons Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Human Rights Human Rights Violations Humanitarian Assistance

What’s in this document?

47 operative paragraphs

Condemns the long-standing and ongoing systematic, widespread and gross violations of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, including those which the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, established by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 22/13 of 21 March 2013,¹¹ has said may amount to crimes against humanity, and the continuing impunity for such violations;

¹¹See Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-eighth Session, Supplement No. 53 (A/68/53), chap. IV, sect. A.

Expresses its very serious concern at:

The persistence of continuing reports of violations of human rights, including the detailed findings made by the commission of inquiry in its report,2 such as:

Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including inhuman conditions of detention; rape; public executions; extrajudicial and arbitrary detention; the absence of due process and the rule of law, including fair trial guarantees and an independent judiciary; extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions; the imposition of the death penalty for political and religious reasons; collective punishments extending up to three generations; and the extensive use of forced labour;

The existence of an extensive system of political prison camps, where a vast number of persons are deprived of their liberty and subjected to deplorable conditions and where alarming violations of human rights are perpetrated;

iii

The forcible transfer of populations and the limitations imposed on every person who wishes to move freely within the country and travel abroad, including the punishment of those who leave or try to leave the country without permission, or their families, as well as punishment of persons who are returned;

The situation of refugees and asylum seekers expelled or returned to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and sanctions imposed on citizens of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea who have been repatriated from abroad, leading to punishments of internment, torture, other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, sexual violence or the death penalty, and in this regard strongly urges all States to respect the fundamental principle of non-refoulement, to treat those who seek refuge humanely and to ensure unhindered access to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and his Office, with a view to protecting the human rights of those who seek refuge, and once again urges States parties to comply with their obligations under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees¹² and the 1967 Protocol thereto¹³ in relation to refugees from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea who are covered by those instruments;

¹²United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 189, No. 2545.

¹³Ibid., vol. 606, No. 8791.

All-pervasive and severe restrictions on the freedoms of thought, conscience, religion or belief, opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, the right to privacy and equal access to information, by such means as the persecution, torture and imprisonment of individuals exercising their freedom of opinion and expression, religion or belief, and their families, and the right of everyone to take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives, of his or her country;

Violations of economic, social and cultural rights, which have led to severe hunger, malnutrition, widespread health problems and other hardship for the population in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, in particular for women, children, persons with disabilities and the elderly;

vii

Violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women, in particular the creation of internal conditions that force women to leave the country and make them extremely vulnerable to trafficking in persons for the purpose of prostitution, domestic servitude or forced marriage and the subjection of women to gender-based discrimination, including in the political and social spheres, forced abortions and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence;

viii

Violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of children, in particular the continued lack of access to basic economic, social and cultural rights for many children, and in this regard notes the particularly vulnerable situation faced by, inter alia, returned or repatriated children, street children, children with disabilities, children whose parents are detained, children living in detention or in institutions and children in conflict with the law;

Violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with disabilities, especially violations involving the use of collective camps and coercive measures that target the rights of persons with disabilities to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and allegations of the possible use of persons with disabilities in medical testing, forced relocation to rural areas and separation of children with disabilities from their parents;

Violations of workers’ rights, including the right to freedom of association and effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining, the right to strike as defined by the obligations of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,5 and the prohibition of the economic exploitation of children and of any harmful or hazardous work of children as defined by the obligations of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea under the Convention on the Rights of the Child;6

Discrimination based on the songbun system, which classifies people on the basis of State-assigned social class and birth, and also includes consideration of political opinions and religion;

The continued refusal of the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to extend an invitation to the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or to extend cooperation to the Special Rapporteur and other United Nations special procedures in accordance with their terms of reference, as well as to other United Nations human rights mechanisms;

The continued lack of acknowledgement by the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea of the grave human rights situation in the country and its consequential lack of action to implement the recommendations contained in the outcome of its first universal periodic review¹⁴ and to give consideration to the concluding observations of the treaty bodies;

¹⁴A/HRC/13/13.

Underscores its very serious concern at the systematic abduction, denial of repatriation and subsequent enforced disappearance of persons, including those from other countries, on a large scale and as a matter of State policy, and in this regard strongly calls upon the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea urgently to resolve these issues of international concern, in a transparent manner, including by ensuring the immediate return of abductees;

Expresses its very deep concern at the precarious humanitarian situation in the country, which could rapidly deteriorate owing to limited resilience to natural disasters and to government policies causing limitations in the availability of and access to adequate food, compounded by structural weaknesses in agricultural production resulting in significant shortages of diversified food and the State restrictions on the cultivation of and trade in foodstuffs, as well as the prevalence of chronic malnutrition, particularly among the most vulnerable groups, pregnant and lactating women, children, persons with disabilities, the elderly and political prisoners, and urges the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, in this regard, to take preventive and remedial action, cooperating where necessary with international donor agencies and in accordance with international standards for monitoring humanitarian assistance;

Commends the Special Rapporteur for the activities undertaken so far and for his continued efforts in the conduct of his mandate despite the denial of access;

Welcomes the findings contained in the report of the Special Rapporteur,3 and takes note of his recommendations, in particular those aimed at exploring possible options to ensure justice and accountability;

Recalls its appreciation for the work of the commission of inquiry, recognizes the continuing importance of its report, and regrets that the commission received no cooperation from the authorities of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, including with regard to access to the country;

Acknowledges the commission’s finding that the body of testimony gathered and the information received provide reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, pursuant to policies established at the highest level of the State for decades;

Expresses its concern at the failure of the authorities of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to prosecute those responsible for human rights violations, including violations which the commission of inquiry has said may amount to crimes against humanity, and encourages the international community to cooperate with accountability efforts and to ensure that such crimes do not remain unpunished;

Encourages the Security Council to continue its consideration of the relevant conclusions and recommendations of the commission of inquiry and take appropriate action to ensure accountability, including through consideration of referral of the situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the International Criminal Court and consideration of the scope for effective targeted sanctions against those who appear to be most responsible for acts that the commission has said may constitute crimes against humanity;

Also encourages the Security Council to continue to discuss the situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, including the country’s human rights record, and looks forward to its continued and active engagement on this matter;

Welcomes the establishment by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights of a field-based structure in Seoul to strengthen the monitoring and documentation of the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, to ensure accountability, to provide the Special Rapporteur with increased support, to enhance the engagement and capacity-building of the Governments of all States concerned, civil society and other stakeholders and to maintain the visibility of the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, including through sustained communications, advocacy and outreach initiatives;

Calls upon Member States to undertake to ensure that the field-based structure of the Office of the High Commissioner can function with independence, that it has sufficient resources and support to fulfil its mandate and that it is not subjected to any reprisals or threats;

Strongly urges the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to respect fully all human rights and fundamental freedoms and, in this regard:

To immediately put an end to the systematic, widespread and grave violations of human rights emphasized above, inter alia, by implementing fully the measures set out in the above-mentioned resolutions of the General Assembly, the Commission on Human Rights and the Human Rights Council, and the recommendations addressed to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea by the Council in the context of the universal periodic review and by the commission of inquiry, the United Nations special procedures and treaty bodies;

To immediately close the political prison camps and to release all political prisoners unconditionally and without any delay;

To protect its inhabitants, address the issue of impunity and ensure that those responsible for violations of human rights are brought to justice before an independent judiciary;

To tackle the root causes leading to refugee outflows and prosecute those who exploit refugees through human smuggling, trafficking and extortion, while not criminalizing the victims;

To ensure that citizens of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea who are expelled or returned to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are able to return in safety and dignity, are treated humanely and are not subjected to any kind of punishment, and to provide information on their status and treatment;

To extend its full cooperation to the Special Rapporteur, including by granting him full, free and unimpeded access to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and to other United Nations human rights mechanisms so that a full needs assessment of the human rights situation may be made;

To engage in technical cooperation activities in the field of human rights with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and his Office, as pursued by the High Commissioner in recent years, with a view to improving the situation of human rights in the country;

To implement the accepted recommendations stemming from the universal periodic review and to consider positively those recommendations which are still under consideration, as well as the preparation of a midterm implementation report;

To become a member of the International Labour Organization and consider ratifying all the relevant conventions;

To continue and reinforce its cooperation with United Nations humanitarian agencies;

To ensure full, safe and unhindered access to humanitarian aid and take measures to allow humanitarian agencies to secure its impartial delivery to all parts of the country on the basis of need in accordance with humanitarian principles, as it pledged to do, to ensure access to adequate food and implement more effective food security and nutrition policies, including through sustainable agriculture, sound food production and distribution measures and the allocation of more funds to the food sector, and to ensure adequate monitoring of humanitarian assistance;

To further improve cooperation with the United Nations country team and development agencies so that they can directly contribute to improving the living conditions of the civilian population, including progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals;

To consider ratifying and acceding to the remaining international human rights treaties, which would enable a dialogue with the human rights treaty bodies, to resume reporting to monitoring bodies on treaties to which it is a party, and to give consideration to the concluding observations of such bodies in order to improve the human rights situation in the country;

Urges the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to implement the recommendations of the commission of inquiry without delay;

Encourages all Member States, the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, the Office of the High Commissioner, the United Nations Secretariat, relevant specialized agencies, regional intergovernmental organizations and forums, civil society organizations, foundations and engaged business enterprises and other stakeholders towards which the commission of inquiry has directed recommendations to implement or take forward those recommendations;

Encourages the United Nations system as a whole to continue to address the grave human rights situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in a coordinated and unified manner;

Notes the willingness expressed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in 2014 to consider human rights dialogues with States and groups of States, technical cooperation with the Office of the High Commissioner and a country visit of the Special Rapporteur, and strongly encourages the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to continue to undertake such dialogues and cooperation initiatives as a matter of priority;

Calls upon the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to continue to engage constructively with international interlocutors with a view to promoting concrete improvements in the human rights situation on the ground, including through dialogues, official visits to the country and more people-to-people contact;

Decides to continue its examination of the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at its seventy-first session, and to this end requests the Secretary-General to submit a comprehensive report on the situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and requests the Special Rapporteur to continue to report his findings and recommendations, as well as to report on the follow-up to the implementation of the recommendations of the commission of inquiry.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What else is in this group?

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What subjects does this mandate have?

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