United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, seen here at a press conference in Seoul on Wednesday, called for a heightened focus on human rights issues in North Korea. Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI
SEOUL, May 13 (UPI) -- United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Wednesday called for an "all hands on deck" response to North Korea's human rights crisis, saying efforts to address peace and security on the Korean Peninsula "need to be anchored in human rights."
"The situation in the DPRK is a human rights crisis and it is high time the international community treats it as such," Turk said at a press conference in Seoul, using the official acronym for North Korea.
"My office has continued to document patterns of ongoing gross human rights violations, some of which may amount to crimes against humanity," he said.
Turk is on a three-day trip to South Korea, where he is meeting with civil society groups, North Korean escapees and senior government officials. It is the first visit by a U.N. human rights chief since 2015.
