Investigator with the Commission of Inquiry into human rights in North Korea Justice Michael Kirby has demanded the U.N. Security Council refer the
matter to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
According to a transcript of his speech obtained by the Associated
Foreign Press on the 17th, Kirby told the council, “We
dare say that the case of human rights in the DPRK exceeds all others in
duration, intensity and horror.”
An estimated 120,000 people currently incarcerated in North Korea’s
political prison camps are unlikely to make it out alive, Kirby confirmed, stating that “Accountability is not optional. It is
obligatory.”
China and Russia were not in attendance at the unofficial meeting despite proceedings being open to all U.N. member states.
The
Commission of Inquiry’s final report released last February detailed
a range of crimes against humanity perpetrated by the North Korean regime, and asked that the international community adhere to the principle of “responsibility to protect.”
