North Korea’s Foreign Ministry condemned on Saturday 3 October 2026 a report submitted by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to the General Assembly on the country’s human rights situation, accusing it of distorting reality, according to the Korean Central News Agency.
Guterres report before the General Assembly
The report has once again placed North Korea’s human rights record before the General Assembly, while Pyongyang rejects international criticism of its rights record and challenges the accuracy of UN reports on conditions inside the country.
Separate UN reports on North Korea
The report is a separate document from the report by Elizabeth Salmon, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea, submitted to the Human Rights Council in February 2026. The Special Rapporteur said the overall human rights situation over the previous 10 years had not improved and had deteriorated in several areas, while recording some limited improvements in individual issues.
The Special Rapporteur also called, in a statement issued after a mission she conducted in February 2026, for regular and independent monitoring by UN human rights mechanisms, pointing to restrictions on freedom of movement and the continuing difficulty citizens face in leaving the country.
The latest response reflects the ongoing dispute between Pyongyang and the United Nations over assessments of the human rights situation, as North Korean authorities continue to reject the conclusions contained in international reports and describe them as failing to provide an accurate picture of the country.
