US applauds UN probe into North Korean human rights abuses

Lawmakers and the administration applauded Thursday's vote by the U.N. Human Rights Council to open an investigation into North Korea's human rights abuses.

The world body agreed to establish a commission of inquiry into reports that as many as 200,000 people are imprisoned in the country's concentration camps. Regional powers Japan and South Korea had expressed concerns in the past about antagonizing North Korea, but its recent nuclear test and missile launch have united the world into confronting the communist regime's practices.

“The new Commission of Inquiry on DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] Humanrights demonstrates the world's unity in its concern over deteriorating conditions there,” the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, tweeted Thursday.

In Congress, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee called the vote a “clear message” to Pyongyang.

“Monitoring and communicating to the world North Korea’s horrendous human rights abuses is long overdue,” said Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.). “Kim Jung Un, who’s proven to be no different than his father, brutally abuses North Koreans. We should do everything we can to shine a light into this dark prison. This latest action sends a clear message to the regime — your crimes against humanity will not go unnoticed by the world.”

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