September 23, 2023
Interviews

Interview: Seoul’s new North Korea human rights envoy stresses accountability

Lee Shin-wha explains what she hopes to accomplish in role and criticizes government’s actions in 2019 repatriation case

Holding Pyongyang accountable for abuses should be a priority when addressing North Korea human rights, Seoul’s new envoy for international cooperation on DPRK human rights told NK News in an exclusive interview this week.

But Lee Shin-wha said that providing humanitarian assistance is also an important part of efforts to constructively engage the country, emphasizing the need to work with the U.N., U.S. and both “like-minded and not-like-minded countries” to improve the human rights situation in North Korea.