Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the human rights situation in North Korea.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is one of 28 Countries of Concern included in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's annual Human Rights Report. We continually monitor the situation on the ground and, as with other Countries of Concern, publish assessments on the GOV.UK website every three months to highlight key human rights developments in-country and internationally, and to report on actions that the UK has taken.

Our most recent update covering the period between July and September 2014 notes little discernible improvement in the human rights situation. It is available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/democratic-peoples-republic-of-korea-dprk-country-of-concern/democratic-peoples-republic-of-korea-dprk-country-of-concern. Despite recent suggestions by the DPRK that it might be willing to engage in a dialogue with the EU and UN on human rights issues, they have not acknowledged the extent of the international community’s concern, nor have they taken any practical actions to improve their human rights performance.