U.N. chief says North Korea has increased repression of rights

The report to the U.N. General Assembly said there has been no progress in ensuring accountability for human rights violations in North Korea

North Korea has increased its repression of the rights and freedoms of its people and the U.N. Security Council should consider referring the country to the International Criminal Court for possible crimes against humanity, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a new report circulated Thursday.

The report to the U.N. General Assembly said there has been no progress in ensuring accountability for human rights violations in the reclusive north Asian country and cited previously documented instances that may amount to crimes against humanity.

It also noted U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet’s update to the Human Rights Council in March that information her office received “continued to suggest that there were reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity had been committed … and may be ongoing” in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the country’s official name.

Mr. Guterres said “it remains imperative for the international community to respond to the human rights situation” in the DPRK, including supporting accountability “if crimes against humanity are found to have been committed, in order to avoid impunity.”

“This includes the Security Council acting on its own or on the recommendation of the General Assembly to consider referral of the situation to the International Criminal Court,” he said.

The ICC was established to seek accountability for the world’s worst atrocities—war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, which Ms. Bachelet headed until Thursday when her four-year term ended, sent a note to the DPRK mission in Geneva on July 1 seeking comments on the draft report, but Mr. Guterres said it received no reply.