北朝鮮における人権に関する国連調査委員会（COI）による報告書発出10周年に際しての日米韓共同ステートメント（2024年2月17日）

 
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the release of the UN Report of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).  The report documented evidence of systematic, widespread, and gross human rights violations by the DPRK.  And it asserted the DPRK has committed human rights violations and abuses that amount to crimes against humanity and indicated “the gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world.”  
 
Unfortunately, a decade later, this is still the case.  The DPRK remains one of the world's most repressive regimes, imposing severe restrictions on freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, association, religion or belief, and movement.  These violations and abuses are well-documented, as is the inextricable link between them and the DPRK’s unlawful weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programs.  
 
The DPRK’s use of forced and exploited labor – both domestically and overseas – support its unlawful and threatening programs, as do food distribution policies that favor the military, leading to chronic malnourishment among its citizens.  The DPRK’s widespread denial of human rights and fundamental freedoms ensures it can expend inordinate resources, much of which are generated through its illicit cyber activities, on the development of unlawful WMD and ballistic missile programs without public objections.  North Koreans suffer severe economic hardships due in part to this diversion of resources.
 
Last August, during the United States’ Presidency, the Security Council held its first open briefing since 2017 on the human rights situation in the DPRK.  Fifty-two Member States and the Delegation of the European Union joined a statement to demand the Council’s continued attention to reaffirm the DPRK’s human rights violations and abuses.  These Security Council briefings represent one step towards implementing the COI recommendation to the United Nations.  This year, we will work to ensure the Security Council remains seized with this issue of international peace and security.
 
We call for a reinvigorated effort to bring justice to victims of human rights violations and abuses in the DPRK.  And we urge the DPRK to abide by its obligations under international law, take immediate steps to end all human rights violations and abuses  -- including the immediate resolution of issues involving abductees, detainees, and unrepatriated prisoners of war --  and engage with the UN’s human rights experts for that purpose.  
 
We also call on all Member States to join us in holding the DPRK to account for its human rights violations and abuses by implementing the recommendations of the UN COI, as appropriate, and respecting the principle of non-refoulement.