Ahead of today’s United Nations Security Council informal meeting on the human rights situation in North Korea, Sherine Tadros, Amnesty International’s Advocacy and United Nations Representative, said:

“This meeting must serve to refocus the international community’s attention on the dire human rights situation in North Korea.

“The North Korean authorities have sought to conceal the suffering of people in the country, and their stranglehold on communications and information flow in and out of the country is an effort to cover up rampant human rights violations, including crimes under international law.

“The UN Security Council must use today’s meeting to send an unequivocal message to the North Korean authorities that systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations must end.

“The North Korean government cannot hide its crimes from the international community, nor continue to shirk its obligations to the UN with impunity.

“North Korea must cooperate with the UN and let independent human rights monitors into the country.”