Geneva, 16 March, 2026.- Concrete steps and international cooperation are key to improving human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Elizabeth Salmón, said today.
“The DPRK has engaged with some international human rights mechanisms and expressed its commitment to a number of human rights obligations,” Salmón said in her latest report to the UN Human Rights Council.
“However, as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded in his 10-year assessment report last September, there has been no overall improvement in the human rights situation in the last decade.”
Salmón said it was time for the DPRK to take concrete steps to implement its human rights commitments.
“Particularly with regard to economic, social and cultural rights, the State has ratified the International Covenant on Econonimic, Social and Cultural Rights and has the obligation to take steps, individually and through international assistance and cooperation, to the maximum of its available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full realisation of those rights,” the Special Rapporteur said.
Salmón said the UN can play a key role in assisting in the implementation of the recommendations, through capacity-building, technical assistance and other support, in consultation with the Government.
She noted that during the third and fourth cycles of the universal periodic review in 2019 and 2024 respectively, the DPRK supported a recommendation on reducing infant and maternal mortality rates, but it has not published data on infant and maternal mortality rates since 2017. Additionally, despite supporting the recommendation, UN-generated data estimated that the infant mortality rate in 2023 was 14.536 per 1,000 live births, a slight increase from 14.299 in 2019. The UN estimated maternal mortality ratio to be 67 per 100,000 live births in 2023, also a slight increase from 66 in 2020.
“These measurable recommendations underline the necessity for the State to first generate current data as a baseline, then to identify the target and a roadmap for implementing the recommendation,” Salmón said.
The Special Rapporteur has proposed measurable benchmarks and specific actions, using human rights indicators, that the DPRK can use to implement UPR recommendations. Salmón recommended that the DPRK track its progress and report results using these indicators. She encouraged the State to urgently seek international cooperation in the areas in which they have committed to act.
“I recommend that other States take any opportunity to follow up on the UPR recommendations in their engagement with the DPRK, including through sharing technical support and lessons learned,” she said.
“International cooperation is a human rights obligation.”