A letter from Australian retired judge Michael Kirby, who currently chairs the three-person panel of the UN Commission Of Inquiry On Human Rights In The Democratic People's Republic Of Korea issued a letter written by himself and addressed to current North Korean leader Kim Jong-un about the human rights abuses its government had handed down to its own citizens. An original copy of the letter, obtained by the Guardian, Kirby mentioned that he had written to Kim for the second time calling the latter's attention to the crimes, which were reportedly conducted on a systematic scale unparalleled to the modern world, the UK newspaper said.
The commission tasked to review the human rights violations in North Korea reportedly gathered evidence for around a year, which included a series of public hearings in four cities across the world and harrowing recollections of North Korean escapees. The Commission's report detailed that the government has set up a system of deliberate starvation, a complete lack of free thought and secret prison camps.
"These are not mere excesses of the state: they are essential components of a political system that has moved far from the ideals on which it claims to be founded. The gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world," the commission report said.
Kirby also said in the letter he wrote to Kim that the latter could face a trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands as he has ultimate culpability for the crimes that occurred in his country.
The Guardian said North Korea has refused to participate in the investigation conducted by the UN nor had given the commission approval to visit the country. The country reportedly rejected the findings of the UN and said, "(The report is) a product of politicization of human rights on the part of EU and Japan in alliance with the US hostile policy".
