By John Power
Can the new UN field office make a difference?
A UN field office for monitoring human rights abuses in North Korea opened in Seoul on Tuesday, the culmination of unprecedented scrutiny on conditions in North Korea since the establishment of a special Commission of Inquiry.
The establishment of the branch of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights fulfills a recommendation from last year’s UN investigation, which detailed shocking human rights violations in North Korea. Among the many abuses described as “without parallel in the contemporary world,” the UN panel documented witness testimony of summary executions, torture, and rape at North Korea’s infamous prison camps.
NGOs welcomed the new field office, while United Nations High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said it would build “on the landmark work of the Commission of Inquiry and Special Rapporteur” by documenting regime abuses.
But can the office have any real impact on conditions inside North Korea?
Read the full story at The Diplomat