Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of the political and human rights situation in North Korea.

The UK continues to be deeply concerned about the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) aggressive and threatening behaviour, including two nuclear tests in 2016 and numerous ballistic missile tests. These tests are a violation of multiple UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs) and demonstrate the DPRK's flagrant disregard for its international obligations. In response to the DPRK's nuclear tests, the UK strongly supported UNSCRs 2270 and 2321 which aim to restrict the DPRK's ability to fund its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. More recently, we have been at the forefront of efforts within the EU to adopt additional measures to further disrupt the DPRK's proliferation activity.

As I stated in my response to written question HL1917, the UK has grave concerns about the serious and systemic human rights violations in the DPRK. We raise these concerns with the DPRK through our Embassy in Pyongyang and in international fora. The UK recently supported a new resolution at the UN Human Rights Council which aims to take forward the recommendations of the UN Group of Independent Experts Report on accountability. This is an important step forward in ensuring those responsible for human rights violations in North Korea are held to account. We will continue to work closely with partners to maintain international attention on the DPRK's appalling human rights record.

Our most recent assessment of the human rights situation in DPRK can be found in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Human Rights Report 2015. The 2016 FCO Human Rights Report will be published in late spring 2017.