N. Korea rights abuses symptom of regional tensions: UN
Seoul (AFP) - A senior UN official said on Friday that human rights violations in North Korea are "a symptom of the ongoing tension" in the Korean Peninsula for which the international community bears some responsibility.
The North's secretive communist regime is widely thought to govern the country with an iron fist, with frequent public executions and up to 200,000 political prisoners languishing in labour camps.
But Marzuki Darusman, the UN's special rapporteur on the country, said Pyongyang's poor human rights record is inevitably linked to its security concerns.
"It is clear that the primary responsibility to protect the human rights of the North Koreans lies with the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) government, which has so far refused to cooperate with my mandate," he said.
"But there are other external factors, such as security concerns, inter-Korean relations, and the regional dynamics around the Peninsula and beyond, that also affect the considerations and the severely rights-restrictive policies of the DPRK leadership."
The isolated and impoverished state counts China as its sole major ally and is subject to tough international economic sanctions which were strengthened earlier this year following its third nuclear test.
It frequently rails against the military alliance between Seoul, Washington, and Tokyo and has remained technically at war with the South since the Korean conflict ended with an armistice in 1953.
Regular military drills by the US and the South are frequently met by shrill threats of war from the North, with analysts attributing the rhetoric to Pyongyang's desire to draw Washington back into a long-stalled dialogue process.
Marusman, who interviewed North Korean defectors as a member of a three-member team called the Commission of Inquiry, said it would be "impossible" to improve the rights situation without an easing of cross-border tensions.
"Human rights violation is not a cause but a symptom of the ongoing tension that has somehow solidified and that continues to sustain the status quo," he told AFP.
"The whole point of suppressing human rights is to be able to maintain the sovereignty of the country, to maintain political stability within the country because of international pressure.
"Unless these factors are taken into account, there will be no meaningful steps towards a gradual settlement of the Korean question, which has a direct bearing on the human rights of the people on the Korean peninsula," he added.
Since his appointment in August 2010, Marusman has made several requests to visit the North, but access has so far not been granted.
