[JURIST] UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein [official profile] announced [statement] Tuesday the opening of a UN office to specifically monitor human rights in North Korea (DPRK). The UN Human Rights Office (Seoul) [official website] will be located in Seoul, South Korea. It is tasked with outreach, technical cooperation with member states, monitoring human rights violations, and making efforts towards human rights change in DPRK. On the opening, Al Hussein said:

The Seoul office will monitor and document [violations] in the DPRK, building on the landmark work of the Commission of Inquiry and Special Rapporteur. We firmly believe this will help lay the basis for future accountability.

The decision to open the new UN office in Seoul follows the release of a report [materials] in February of 2014 by the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea, which detailed numerous and “unspeakable” atrocities committed against the country’s people and states that country’s situation is worse than that of any other in “duration, intensity and horror.” Later in February 2014, then-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay stated [JURIST report] that there can no longer be any excuses for inaction in North Korea. In November 2014 the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation in the DPRK Marzuki Darusman recognized [JURIST report] that the issue of accountability of those responsible for crimes against humanity in the country remained at the top of the agenda. Also in November, the UN General Assembly urged [JURIST report] the Security Council to call on the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] to investigate allegations against North Korea for crimes against humanity.