Time to Hold North Korea Accountable for Human Rights Abuses

“The North Korean regime remains one of the worst human rights violators in the world, committing violations and abuses within its own territory and abroad,” said a joint statement from the United States, South Korea, and Japan.

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Eleven years ago, responding to three decades’ worth of evidence, compiled by NGOs and various governments, that indicated violations of human rights within North Korea, the United Nations established a Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

One year later, the Commission issued a report confirming that North Korea’s regime had committed and continues to commit a broad range of human rights abuses.

According to the U.S. State Department’s 2023 Human Rights Report on North Korea, North Koreans were subjected “to a wide range of human rights abuses ... including forced repatriations, extrajudicial killings, forced abortion and the ‘worst forms’ of child labor,” among other abuses.

On October 18, 2024, a decade after the Commission’s report was published, the United States, South Korea, and Japan issued a joint statement on strengthening cooperation to improve human rights in North Korea. In it, they take note of “credible reports of acts involving summary executions, assassinations, abductions, including abductions of foreign nationals, torture, and unlawful and unjust detentions.”

“The North Korean regime remains one of the worst human rights violators in the world, committing violations and abuses within its own territory and abroad,” said the joint statement. And as the human rights situation there continues to deteriorate, the United States, Japan and South Korea believe that it is time to change tactics. They “urge the international community to shift its approach on North Korean human rights issues toward action: from monitoring violations and abuses to promoting accountability.”

“The United States, the [Republic of Korea], and Japan reaffirm our commitment to promoting human rights and the welfare of people in North Korea,” says the joint statement. “In doing so, we intend to increase our joint efforts to increase access to independent information in North Korea; promote accountability for those responsible for human rights abuses in North Korea; support and amplify the voices of North Korean escapees and refugees to increase global awareness of violations in North Korea; and urge the immediate resolution of the issues of abductees, detainees, and others unjustly detained, and unrepatriated prisoners of war as well as the issue of separated families.”

“The three governments are aligned in our vision,” notes the joint statement, “undaunted in the face of our era’s greatest challenges; and, united in our commitment to tackle human rights challenges in North Korea together, now, and in the future.”