N. Korea Assailed Over Rights by Conference Guests
Communist North Korea was condemned for alleged human rights abuses Friday by delegates to an international conference who raised questions about political prisoners and press freedom.
It was almost certainly the first time North Korea has faced public attack over human rights on its own soil and prompted an angry reaction from Pyongyang delegates to a conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Leni Fischer, of the German Christian Democratic party, demanded to know whether there are what she called “concentration camps” for political prisoners in North Korea and accused Pyongyang of denying its people basic civil and political rights.
Another speaker called on North Korea to make democratic reforms.
“After the collapse of Communist regimes all over the world, we expect changes as well in one of the last Communist regimes,” said Josef Hochtl of the Austrian People’s Party.
The North Korean delegation to the conference interrupted the speech by Hochtl to complain that its language was “indiscreet.”
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