1. On January 7, Vice Foreign Minister Lee Tae-ho met with UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Ojea Quintana, who is on a visit to the Republic of Korea.

2. Vice Minister Lee shared with the Special Rapporteur the progress made over the past year toward the denuclearization and the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula; mentioned that in the process, agreements and progress had been made on humanitarian matters, including those for the reunions of families separated during the Korean War and the repatriation of remains of United States soldiers killed in the Korean War, among others; and voiced hope that going forward, inter-Korean relations would advance and peace would be established, exerting positive impact on efforts to tangibly promote human rights of the people of the DPRK.

3. Special Rapporteur Quintana, welcoming the recent progress toward denuclearization and the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula, expressed support for the ROK government’s efforts to that end. He went on to stress that, in order for the DPRK to achieve progress in the field of human rights, it should work more closely with the international community, including the UN human rights mechanisms.

4. The purpose of Special Rapporteur Quintana’s visit to the ROK, his fifth since his taking up the post in August 2016, is to gather information necessary for writing a report that will be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2019.

° During his visit to the ROK from January 7 to 11, Special Rapporteur Quintana will meet with officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Unification and other relevant government agencies, as well as North Korean defectors and members of civil society; and hold a press conference at the Press Center, Seoul, at 15:00, January 11.

* unofficial translation