U.N. urges North Korea to confirm fate of forcibly disappeared people

FILE PHOTO-United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Volker Turk delivers a statement in Port-au-Prince, Haiti February 10, 2023. REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol

SEOUL (Reuters) - The United Nations Human Rights office in Seoul called on North Korea on Tuesday to confirm the fate and whereabouts of people who have been disappeared under its regime, accusing Pyongyang of violating the rights of the victims and their loved ones for decades.

In a report on enforced disappearance and abductions by North Korea, the U.N. rights office said North Korea should acknowledge that it has engaged in a state policy of enforced disappearances since 1950, and take immediate steps to end such violations.