North Korean defectors seek more UN monitoring of abuses
STORY: The defectors came to the U.N. in Geneva where diplomats say the Human Rights Council will consider an EU-led motion to boost scrutiny by providing an update to a landmark 2014 report that found grave abuses constituting crimes against humanity.
Kim, who asked not to give his full name to protect those who remain, told the U.N. meeting that authorities harassed him and confiscated his food, and had barely enough to survive after COVID-19 era restrictions came in.
"I am standing on this stage with hope that the North Korean government will allow my family and friends still living there to live a slightly more comfortable life," Kim told Reuters on the sidelines.
Human Rights Watch, which is one of 20 civil society groups calling for a new U.N. report, says that China has recently forcibly returned some 500 people who had escaped North Korea and warned that they were at risk of forced labor camps or even execution.
