Most Popular
-
1
Heavy snow alerts issued in greater Seoul area, Gangwon Province; over 20 cm of snow seen in Seoul
-
2
Seoul blanketed by heaviest Nov. snow, with more expected
-
3
NewJeans to terminate contract with Ador
-
4
Seoul snowfall now third heaviest on record
-
5
Samsung shakes up management, commits to reviving chip business
-
6
Heavy snow of up to 40 cm blankets Seoul for 2nd day
-
7
Hybe consolidates chairman Bang Si-hyuk’s regime with leadership changes
-
8
How $70 funeral wreaths became symbol of protest in S. Korea
-
9
NewJeans terminates contract with Ador, embarks on new journey
-
10
Why cynical, 'memeified' makeovers of kids' characters are so appealing
N. Korea has not responded to UN request for info on enforced disappearances: report
By YonhapPublished : Aug. 30, 2018 - 10:59
North Korea has kept mum about a UN group's request to provide information on 66 cases of enforced disappearances for one year beginning in May last year, a US government-funded radio station reported Thursday.
Enforced disappearances are when a person goes missing after having been arrested, detained or abducted by a government or state-run organization.
Citing an annual report by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, Radio Free Asia said the group has called for the US Security Council to consider asking the International Criminal Court to launch a probe into the matter.
The annual report was revealed Wednesday, one day ahead of the UN-designated International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.
The working group, set up in 1980 by what is now the UN Human Rights Council, works to establish a channel of communication between families with missing members and the relevant governments, as part of its efforts to assist such families in determining the whereabouts of the missing.
Since its establishment, the group has received 233 suspected cases of enforced disappearances and asked Pyongyang to provide information on them. But the North has repeatedly given the same answer every year that there have been no enforced disappearances.
Cases of enforced disappearances by the North include abductions of South Koreans during the 1950-53 Korean War and missing North Korean defectors who were sent back to their homeland from China.
The working group will submit the annual report to a conference of the UN human right watchdog to be held in Geneva from Sept. 10-28. (Yonhap)
