International sanctions placed on North Korea by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) which impact the country’s economy and citizens negatively should be gradually lifted, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on North Korean human rights told NK News on Tuesday.

Speaking in an interview at NK News’s Seoul bureau as part of his sixth visit to South Korea since March 2016, Tomás Ojea Quintana said his role meant he was required to comment if he felt that the international community’s policies were harming North Korean citizens.

“I’m supporting a gradual lifting of the sanctions,” Quintana, who has repeatedly been denied access to