▲ This photo, provided by South Korea's unification ministry on Oct. 27, 2024, shows the poster of the 2024 International Dialogue on North Korean Human Rights, a forum to be held on Oct. 28-29 in Geneva. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

NK human rights-forum

S. Korea to hold int'l forum on N. Korea's human rights in Geneva this week

SEOUL, Oct. 28 (Yonhap) -- The unification ministry said Monday it will hold a two-day forum on North Korea's human rights situation in Switzerland this week ahead of the United Nations' review of the North's human rights record next month.

The 2024 International Dialogue on North Korean Human Rights will be held Monday and Tuesday (local time) in Geneva in a bid to help bolster international solidarity over the issue ahead of the U.N. Human Rights Council's universal periodic review (UPR) of North Korea on Nov. 7, according to the ministry.

The UPR is a mechanism that calls for each U.N. member state to go through a peer review of its human rights record every 4 1/2 years.

On the first day of the forum, Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho will deliver his congratulatory remarks via video. Panelists will discuss the UPR of North Korea as well as the North's foreign policy and human rights.

Ri Il-gyu, a former counselor of political affairs at the North Korean Embassy in Cuba, will join the forum on Monday as a panelist in his first appearance on the international stage since his defection to South Korea in November 2023.

On the second day, about 10 civic groups dedicated to improving the North's human rights and North Korean defectors living in Europe will discuss Pyongyang's human rights situation.

Families of victims of North Korea's abduction and detention will also take part in the forum to call for international support for confirming the fate of those abducted by the North and bringing them back home, the ministry said.

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