Defectors expose N. Korea at UN / KBS 2025.05.21.

[Anchor]

For the first time at the UN General Assembly, defectors from North Korea testified directly about the human rights situation in North Korea.

Following this testimony, a North Korean official, who gained the floor, harshly criticized them, calling them human trash.

Park Il-jung from New York reports.

[Report]

During the late 1990s, when millions were starving to death in North Korea's 'Arduous March' period.

Kim Eun-joo, who lost her father to starvation, defected from North Korea at that time.

[Kim Eun-joo/Defector: "When my mother finally returned she said if we are going to die anyway better to be shot crossing the Tumen River than starve here."]

She escaped to survive, but the reality was harsh.

[Kim Eun-joo/Defector: "On our first night in China, my 14-year-old sister was kidnapped, sexually abused."]

Kang Gyu-ri, who defected two years ago, revealed the reality of the Reactionary Ideology and Culture Rejection Law, which was enacted to strengthen control during the COVID-19 pandemic.

[Kang Gyu-ri/Defector: "Three of my friends were executed. Two of them in public for distributing South Korean dramas."]

This is the first time that defectors have testified directly at the UN General Assembly.

North Korea, which has been sensitive to human rights issues, strongly protested again this time.

[Kim Song/North Korea's Ambassador to the UN: "Yet more deplorable indeed, is the invitation, as witnesses of the scum of the earth, who don't care about even their parents and families.”]

At this UN General Assembly, it was emphasized that North Korea's human rights violations are not just issues for the Korean Peninsula and East Asia.

That’s because the regime’s weapons development—built on systemic rights violations—is being exported to countries like Russia and Iran.

From New York, this is KBS News Park Il-jung.

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