1. The Foreign Ministry hosted a round-table discussion among like-minded countries on North Korean human rights issue in Seoul on November 15.

2. The meeting was chaired by Director-General for Korean Peninsula Peace Regime Kim Yong-hyon of the Foreign Ministry and brought together diplomats to the Republic of Korea from nine like-minded countries, Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues Robert King of the US Department of State, head of the UN Human Rights Office in Seoul Signe Poulsen, Ambassador-at-large on North Korean Human Rights Lee Jung-hoon and a ranking official of the Ministry of Unification.

° At the meeting, head of the UN Human Rights Office in Seoul Signe Poulsen briefed the participants on the human rights situation in North Korea, and North Korean defectors gave testimonies to help the participants better understand the situation. The participants also took the opportunity to learn about efforts of the ROK, the US and the EU to improve the situation and their policy direction on the issue; and to exchange views on specific measures that individual countries could take to that end.

3. The meeting among the heads of diplomatic missions from like-minded countries in Seoul marked the first of its kind. With similar meeting taking place in New York, Geneva and Brussels as necessary and with like-minded countries exchanging information and coordinating their policies, the meeting in Seoul is expected to help make North Korea’s human rights international agenda and pressure the North to improve its human rights situation.


* unofficial translation