North Korean defectors offered first-hand testimony about the Kim Jong Un regime’s persistent human rights crimes in Seoul on Wednesday, describing violations ranging from bans on travel and discrimination against people with disabilities to the execution of those who distributed K-pop.

The two-day public sessions at the U.N. Human Rights Office in South Korea are part of the U.N.’s effort to prepare an update to the landmark 2014 Commission of Inquiry (COI) report. The new report will be presented during the U.N. Human Rights Council in Sept. 2025.

Kim Il-hyeok, who defected by boat across the inter-Korean maritime border in