SEOUL, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- North Korean defectors and experts urged the international community to step up pressure on Pyongyang over human rights abuses as a major conference on the issue opened in downtown Seoul on Wednesday.
At the 2025 World Convention on North Korean Human Rights, Kim Kang, former deputy representative at the North Korean mission in Russia, said global attention to rights must not fade amid renewed military tensions and the collapse of inter-Korean dialogue.
Speaking publicly for the first time since his 2016 defection, Kim said he fled after his aunt was arrested for secretly distributing Bibles and his family was branded guilty by association.
"It's time we raise our voices and shed light on North Korea's oppression," he said. "Civil society and international journalists must criticize and pressure [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un to change his flawed policies."
Kim's remarks reflected a growing call among defectors and activists for governments and international bodies to restore focus on human rights after years of military tensions and nuclear-centric diplomacy.
