UN: Punish N. Korea, Kim for 'Unspeakable Atrocities'

Report urges prosecution, crimes against humanity for Kim Jong Un
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 17, 2014 1:34 AM CST
Updated Feb 17, 2014 7:59 AM CST
UN: Punish Pyongyang's 'Unspeakable Atrocities'
The report details barbaric atrocities carried out by the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.   (AP Photo/KRT via AP Video)

A hard-hitting United Nations report out today is expected to contain hundreds of pages of details of the horrors people have suffered under the North Korean regime—and call for those behind the "unspeakable atrocities" to be punished. That includes Kim Jong Un, who got a personal letter from the inquiry's chairman warning that he could face trial for crimes against humanity, the Guardian reports. The report details crimes including "extermination" of political enemies, torture, enslavement, and an abduction campaign in Japan and South Korea, according to an outline obtained by the AP. The chairman told reporters there was "abundant evidence," notes CNN.

The regime did all it could to preserve its rule "in full awareness that such decisions would exacerbate starvation and related deaths amongst much of the population," the report states. The panel heard chilling testimony. One woman said she was forced to to drown her own baby, the BBC reports. Another family was reportedly tortured for watching a foreign soap opera. The report recommends a criminal investigation by a "competent national or international organ of justice," though China will probably block any such move. North Korea said it "categorically and totally" rejects the report, calling it "a product of politicization of human rights" from its enemies in the US, Japan, and Europe, Reuters reports. (More North Korea stories.)

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