Attachments
Human Rights Council
Fifty-eigth session
24 February–4 Apriil 2025
Agenda items 2 and 4
Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General
Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention
Summary
In the present report, submitted to the Human Rights Council pursuant to its resolutions 52/28 and 55/21, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights describes the activities of the Office of the High Commissioner in promoting accountability for human rights violations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, highlighting the progress made and the challenges encountered. The High Commissioner also examines information that the Office of the High Commissioner has gathered on human rights violations committed in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the light of relevant international legal standards. The High Commissioner concludes with recommendations addressed to the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and other Member States.
I. Introduction
1. The present report is submitted to the Human Rights Council pursuant to its resolutions 52/28 and 55/21 on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. In its resolution 52/28, the Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to submit to the Council, at its fifty-eighth session, a full report on the implementation of the recommendations made by the group of independent experts on accountability aimed at strengthening current monitoring and documentation efforts, establishing a central information and evidence repository, and having experts in legal accountability assess all information and testimonies with a view to developing possible strategies to be used in any future accountability process. The Council also requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to continue to organize a series of consultations and outreach activities with victims, affected communities and other relevant stakeholders with a view to including their views into avenues for accountability.
2. In the present report, which covers the period from 1 November 2022 to 31 October 2024, the High Commissioner describes the activities undertaken by OHCHR – including its field-based structure in Seoul – during the reporting period to implement the Council mandate, highlighting the progress made and the challenges encountered. The High Commissioner examines, in the light of relevant international legal standards, information gathered by OHCHR on patterns of human rights violations committed in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, with a particular focus on freedom of expression and the right to food, as well as efforts by OHCHR to strengthen, institutionalize and further advance its work on accountability and the consultations process. OHCHR shared the present report with the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for factual comments. No response was received from the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.