United Nations has accused North Korea of violating human rights amid Kim Jong-un's strengthened coronavirus-related curbs with extra restrictions on access to information, tighter border security and increased surveillance.
What Happened: A report prepared by the U.N.'s human rights office in Seoul on Thursday — which will be presented to the General Assembly in October — said North Korea's COVID-19 curbs aggravated the country's human rights violations.
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The report, citing interviews with defectors, information from other U.N. agencies, and open source materials, said the border closure by North Korea in early 2020 added to curbs on access to outside information.
It added that Kim's administration also reinforced the military's presence, fences and installed cameras along with motion detectors at the border. The isolated nation also employed new technologies to suppress access to foreign media content and also jammed radio frequencies from outside the country, according to the report.
The measures made it "more difficult for information to enter the country, such as through the distribution of USB memory sticks and micro SD cards," the UN report said, adding that the outbreak could have worsened its population's access to adequate food and healthcare.
Meanwhile, the supreme leader of North Korea early this month declared a "shining victory" over COVID-19 and ordered the lifting of maximum anti-epidemic measures imposed in May after the isolated nation detected its first case since the pandemic's start.
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