NEW YORK - South Korean Ambassador to the UN Hwang Joon-kook said children in North Korea face grave human rights abuses, including receiving the death penalty for distributing South Korean dramas, during a UN Security Council meeting at the UN headquarters in New York on April 3.
“According to numerous public sources, including North Korean defectors’ testimonies, children in the DPRK are exposed to egregious human rights violations, including the death penalty for distributing South Korean dramas, detention in political prisons alongside their family members as collective punishment, and widespread use of child labour,” said Mr Hwang, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Citing a report published by Unicef, the World Health Organisation and the World Bank Group, Mr Hwang noted that “17 per cent of children in the DPRK are reported to suffer from stunted growth due to malnourishment”.