James Heenan, the representative of the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Seoul, joins the podcast this week to unpack the High Commissioner’s new update on human rights in the DPRK — an effort to take stock of the situation in the country 11 years after the landmark U.N. Commission of Inquiry report.

Several activists have argued that the update offers little in the way of new revelations and falls short by not naming key perpetrators. But Heenan contends that its value lies elsewhere: It is the most comprehensive trend analysis to date, built on 314 victim and witness testimonies gathered over the past decade and backed by dozens of U.N. documents.

He outlines what the report has to say about North Korea’s tightening system of repression — rooted in state ideology, codified punishments and forced labor — and weighs in on what meaningful public action looks like now.

James Heenan is the representative for the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Seoul. He previously served as the head of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Palestine and has also worked in academia on labor rights issues and as a practicing lawyer in the U.K. and Australia. He last appeared on episode 325 of the NK News podcast. 

About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.

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