Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to hold to account those responsible for crimes against humanity in North Korea; what consideration they have given to referring reports of such crimes to the International Criminal Court; and what plans they have to review the efficacy of the mechanisms in place to ensure that such accountability is upheld.

The UK is clear there must be no impunity for the most serious international crimes. The international community has a responsibility to respond to human rights violations in North Korea and the UK continues to press for annual debate in the UN Security Council on the DPRK human rights issues. North Korea is not a State Party to the International Criminal Court (ICC), so a referral of the situation in the DPRK could be made only by the UN Security Council in this instance. We welcome and support the annual Human Rights Council resolution on human rights in North Korea which stresses the importance of following up recommendations from the 2014 UN Commission of Inquiry Report on Human Rights in the DPRK, and provides the basis for further work on a credible framework for accountability for human rights violations in the country.