A/HRC/RES/37/28
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to prevent and suppress crimes against humanity
and to ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted and brought to justice,
Concerned that the precarious humanitarian situation in the country is exacerbated
by the failure of the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to provide
humanitarian agencies with free and unimpeded access to all populations in need and the
ability to monitor appropriately the entire distribution process, and by its national policy
priorities that, among others, prioritize military spending, in particular nuclear and ballistic
missile development, over citizens’ access to food,
Acknowledging Security Council resolution 2397 (2017) of 22 December 2017, in
which the Council noted that 41 per cent of the population of the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea was undernourished, and General Assembly resolution 72/188, in which
the Assembly noted with concern the findings of the United Nations that well over half of
the people in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea suffered from major insecurities
in food and medical care, including a very large number of pregnant and lactating women
and children under 5 who were at risk of malnutrition, and nearly a quarter of its total
population was suffering from chronic malnutrition, condemned the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea for diverting its resources into pursuing nuclear weapons and ballistic
missiles over the welfare of its people, and emphasized the necessity for the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea to respect and ensure the welfare and inherent dignity of the
people in the country, as referred to by the Council in its resolutions 2321 (2016) of 30
November 2016, 2371 (2017) of 5 August 2017, 2375 (2017) of 11 September 2017 and
2397 (2017),
Reaffirming that it is the responsibility of the Government of the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea to ensure the full enjoyment of all human rights and
fundamental freedoms of its entire population, including by ensuring equal access to
adequate food, as well as, among others, freedom of religion or belief, freedom of
expression and freedom of association and assembly,
Recognizing that particular risk factors affect women, children, persons with
disabilities and the elderly, and the need to ensure the full enjoyment of all their human
rights and fundamental freedoms by them against neglect, abuse, exploitation and violence,
and taking note in this regard of the concluding observations of the Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women on the combined second to fourth periodic
reports of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea 2 and the concluding observations of
the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the fifth periodic report of the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea,3
Noting with appreciation the visit of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons
with disabilities to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, encouraging the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to implement all of the recommendations contained
in the report of the Special Rapporteur on her visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea, submitted to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-seventh session,4 and noting the
participation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the Paralympic Winter
Games held in PyeongChang, Republic of Korea,
Acknowledging the participation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in
the second cycle of the universal periodic review, noting the acceptance by the Government
of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea of 113 out of the 268 recommendations
contained in the outcome of the review and its stated commitment to implement them and
to look into the possibility of implementing a further 58 recommendations, and
emphasizing the importance of the implementation of the recommendations in order to
address the grave human rights violations in the country,
2
3
4
2
CEDAW/C/PRK/CO/2-4.
CRC/C/PRK/CO/5.
A/HRC/37/56/Add.1.