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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's summits with South Korean and US presidents have not changed his country's catastrophic record of human rights, the investigator said on Tuesday. American independent on human rights in this isolated Asian country.
At a press conference, Tomas Ojea Quintana said he was "very concerned" by statements made following Kim's meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and the US President Donald Trump, who made no mention of human rights in North Korea.
He cited reports of "systematic and widespread violations" of human rights and the findings of a 2014 US commission of inquiry that possible crimes against humanity allegedly committed in North Korea.
"The human rights situation at the moment has not changed," said Quintana.
Quintana said the treatment of the North Korean nuclear arsenal was extremely important for humanity. He strongly supported the rapprochement of the two Koreas and the negotiations with the United States that helped reduce tensions and improve prospects for peace.
But he stressed that the record of human rights in North Korea should not be ignored.
Quintana recalled that in his previous post as US investigator in Myanmar, he had sounded the alarm bell about the "crimes against humanity" committed by the military during the political transition this country in 2012, but its concerns have been ruled out.
"And now we see the consequences," he said, referring to the findings of abuses committed by the army against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar.
He said that he was not saying that the situation in North Korea was the same, but "we should not undermine the principle of human rights because sooner or later it will come back".
"As the rapprochement process and the talks move forward very quickly, we, the human rights defenders, must also act quickly and come up with different proposals," said Quintana.
He added that one of his proposals was to ask the new US human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, to launch "a process of engagement" with Korea's North.
He also urged North Korea "to show its commitment to the human rights agenda" and to allow it to visit the country and meet with its leaders.
Quintana, an Argentine human rights lawyer appointed by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, was in New York to present his latest findings to the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations. the United States General Assembly.
He added that he proposed to the North Korean authorities in Geneva last March that the government begin to release political prisoners, a sign of its commitment to human rights.
"We have seen in the media an amnesty from the leaders and released prisoners," Quintana said. "It was a very important news."
But Quintana added that when he wrote to North Korea to ask for details, he received no response.
He said in response to a question that the Trump government had told him that he supported his work and supported a resolution of the General Assembly condemning the human rights situation in North Korea.
On Monday, the official KCNA news agency in North Korea accused "some dishonest forces, including Japan," of "working hard to prepare" a politicized resolution on human rights. He called the annual resolution the result of a "conspiratorial and criminal scenario of hostile forces to defame" North Korea.
KCNA said Western countries should not be considered "the global standard of human rights," saying "misanthropy and abnormal lifestyles are commonplace" in the West.
