This year’s UN report on human rights violations in North Korea is unique in that it calls out China on its forced repatriations of North Korean refugees, a human rights advocate told NK News.

Roberta Cohen, co-chair for the Committee on Human Rights in North Korea, said that China had never before been singled out in such a way by a UN report for its treatment of North Korean defectors. Given China’s influence as a permanent UN member and the world’s second-largest economy, it was a bold step for the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the