On 25 March 2025, the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB) delivered a statement at the 58th session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council for the adoption of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of North Korea. The statement, prepared with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), expressed concern over the North Korean government’s failure to accept nearly half of the UPR recommendations it received, including those on torture, politically motivated imprisonment, and gender-based discrimination and violence. Read the statement below.
UN Human Rights Council – 58th Session
25 March 2025
Item 6: UPR outcome of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)
Mister President,
NKDB and FIDH are disappointed by the DPRK’s lack of commitment to human rights, as shown by its failure to accept 49% of the recommendations received in the fourth UPR.
Of particular concern is the government’s non-acceptance of all 43 recommendations concerning torture, politically motivated imprisonment, and systemic labor exploitation, which includes child labor and forced labor in prisons. These issues directly pertain to the crimes against humanity that were highlighted in the 2014 Commission of Inquiry report and continue today.
Separately, the government did not accept any of the 13 recommendations to ratify the Convention against Torture and ILO conventions—two safeguards against these abuses.
The government also failed to accept 21 recommendations on gender-based discrimination and violence, accepting only those that reaffirm existing measures instead of introducing new actions. This undermines substantial reforms needed to combat normalized domestic violence, sexual coercion, and the culture of silence deterring victims from seeking redress.
We are further dismayed by the government’s unwillingness to align with international standards on the freedom of movement, expression, and information. While accepting general recommendations on these freedoms, it rejected those requiring measures critical to their realization, such as: lowering surveillance; lifting travel restrictions; ending punishment of forcibly repatriated individuals; and repealing laws criminalizing the consumption of South Korean and other foreign media.
The government continues to rely on arbitrary interpretations of rights and freedoms. Thus, while we welcome its newfound decision to accept recommendations on access to the Internet and international communications, we are concerned that their implementation may be compromised by the censorship of information displayed on these platforms.
We remind the DPRK to engage with the UPR under the principle that human rights are universal, inalienable, and indivisible.
Thank you.
