Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the Foreign Secretary's to South Korea and the demilitarised zone, what assessment they have made of the prospects for (1) the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, and (2) an improvement in the protection of fundamental human rights in North Korea.

The UK Government is concerned at the continued development of North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. UN sanctions must be enforced until North Korea takes concrete steps to denuclearise and dismantle its weapons programme. The UK is working with partners to enforce UN sanctions on North Korea and to reduce the risk of North Korean cybercrime, a valuable source of revenue for the regime. We continue to show our support to US efforts to negotiate with North Korea, and to partners in the region, as evidenced by the Foreign Secretary's discussions with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang in Seoul in early October. We have raised our concerns directly with North Korea and at the UN Security Council. We encourage North Korea to return to meaningful negotiations with the United States.

The UK repeatedly calls on North Korean to acknowledge and address the many reports of serious and wide-ranging human rights violations in the country. The UK made a robust statement at the UN Human Rights Council in March 2020. The UK has directly challenged North Korea on its human rights abuses. In July 2020, we designated two North Korean Government organisations under the UK Global Human Rights sanctions regime. At the UN Human Rights Council in October, we made clear our continued concerns.