The United Nations Security Council has held an open debate on the human rights situation in North Korea. It is the Council's first such debate since 2017. The US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said the meeting on Thursday was long overdue. She added that authorities in the North deny their people fundamental freedoms while devoting resources to developing missiles and weapons of mass destruction.

Japanese Ambassador Ishikane Kimihiro said, the violations extend beyond the Korean peninsula. He reminded his counterparts that Japanese citizens abducted to North Korea decades ago are still being held there.