NORTH KOREA. COUNTRY MUST COOPERATE TO IMPROVE 'ABYSMAL' RECORD, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged North Korea to cooperate with the UN to improve its "abysmal" human rights record and called on China to stop sending refugees back to the Stalinist country.
HRW welcomed a resolution by the United Nations Human Rights Commission expressing deep concern about torture, public executions, internment of civilians and "extensive" forced labour in North Korea.
"We welcome the resolution as a sign that the Commission is serious about helping improve North Korea's appalling human rights record," HRW Asia director Brad Adams said in a statement.
"It is high time for North Korea to open its doors, not just to foreign investors, but also to human rights investigators."
The resolution brought by European countries with the backing of Canada, Japan, and the United States, was approved in Geneva on April 14 by 30 countries in the 53-member Commission. Nine countries including China, Cuba, Russia, Indonesia and Malaysia, opposed it, while 14 abstained.
New York-based HRW also called on China not to send refugees back to North Korea after a South Korean newspaper report that 30 asylum-seekers were returned this month.
"Given the appalling treatment these North Koreans would face upon return to North Korea, Beijing has an international legal obligation to protect them, regardless of what originally motivated them to come to China," Adams said.   dicong