HRW: N Korea Must Address Issue of Human Rights Abuse Before Party Congress

North Korea's leadership to be selected at the upcoming ruling party congress should urgently address human rights abuses committed in the country, a human rights watchdog said Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The long-anticipated Worker's Party Congress, scheduled for Friday, will be the first congress meeting since 1980, and is expected to see the reshuffling of party representatives.

“This ruling party congress is a rare event, but it’s made possible by the forced labor that untold thousands of North Koreans are subject to as part of everyday life under Kim Jong-Un’s abusive rule. Kim Jong-Un talks a lot about improving the lives of North Koreans, but we’ll only know if he’s serious if he takes action to end human rights abuses,” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said in a statement.

The watchdog specified that ahead of the Congress, the North Korean people were exposed to forced labor to cover the costs of the Congress, and urged Pyongyang to address the issue, which is "a central element of North Korea’s egregiously bad human rights record."

In 2013, the UN Human Rights Council established the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea to investigate the systematic violation of human rights in the country, with a view to ensuring full accountability, in particular for violations which may amount to crimes against humanity.

The major violations reported in North Korea included torture and inhuman treatment, arbitrary detention, discrimination, and violating freedom of expression.