Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the finding contained in the UN Report of the Commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, published on 7 February 2014, that crimes against humanity have been committed in North Korea; and whether they intend to discuss with Michael Kirby, Chair of the Commission, the non-implementation of the recommendation contained in that report that the Security Council should refer the situation in North Korea to the International Criminal Court.

The UK is fully committed to the principle that there must be no impunity for the most serious international crimes, such as those documented by the Commission of Inquiry as taking place in North Korea . In principle, the International Criminal Court (ICC) could be an appropriate forum to hold North Korea to account for its behaviour, but the ICC can only take action when a war crime or crime against humanity is suspected to have been committed in or by a country which is party to the Rome Statute, or when a situation is referred to them by the UN Security Council. North Korea is not a party to the Rome Statute. As we have seen with Syria, it can be difficult to achieve a referral when a country is not a signatory to the ICC. We welcome the Human Rights Council resolution in March 2017 which provides the basis for further work on a credible framework for accountability.