SPOTLIGHT 25/05/20 North Korean envoy calls escapees ‘human scum’ at UN meet

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Derogatory remarks were a response to testimonies shared at UNGA by two women escapees who now live in South Korea

North Korea's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Kim Song (left), and escapees Gyuri Kang (center) and Eun-joo Kim, at the United Nations General Assembly, on May 20. (Photo: UN WebTV) 

By UCA News reporter

Published: May 22, 2025 11:00 AM GMT

Updated: May 22, 2025 11:52 AM GMT

North Korea's permanent representative to the United Nations has slammed two women escapees to South Korea as “human scum,” while condemning a meeting on human rights abuses in his country as a “political scheme.”

Song Kim, who led the North Korea delegation, made his remarks during the first-ever high-level plenary meeting in the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on May 20, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on May 21.

“The [North Korean] delegation categorically rejects and strongly condemns this meeting, which was convened with the political aim of undermining the dignity and sovereignty of our state,” Kim said in his address.

“What is more deplorable is the invitation of human scum who have even betrayed their own parents and families,” Kim added.

Kim’s derogatory remarks were a response to personal testimonies shared at the UNGA by two women escapees — Gyuri Kang, 24, and Eun-joo Kim, 38 — who now live in South Korea.

Diplomats, international human rights experts, and North Korean escapees attended the meeting held at the UN headquarters in New York, convened under a North Korea human rights resolution adopted by consensus in December 2024.

The UNGA is the main deliberative and policy-making body at the UN, where all member states are represented. Its resolutions have political weight but are not binding on member states.

China and Russia criticized the meeting, saying it was held without the consent of North Korea and questioned its legitimacy.

Eyewitness accounts of rights abuses

Eun-joo Kim, who fled North Korea in 2023 aboard a 10-meter wooden boat with her mother and aunt, described how the authorities publicly executed people, including teenagers, for watching or distributing South Korean dramas.

“Three of my friends were publicly executed. Two were killed for distributing South Korean dramas. One was just 19 years old,” Kang told the assembly.

North Korean authorities are determined to keep their people in the dark and prevent them from dreaming of freedom, Kang alleged.

In 2020, North Korea passed the Anti-Reactionary Ideology and Culture Act, which encompasses punishments including the death penalty or watching or distributing foreign media.

In 2021, the Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, issued a directive to prevent young people from adopting South Korean speech, fashion, and hairstyles.

Deteriorating rights situation since Covid-19

Gyuri Kang stated that the Covid-19 lockdowns gave the regime the perfect excuse to intensify its crackdown amid widespread hyperinflation, economic hardship, and hunger caused by the collapse of trade with China.

Elizabeth Salmón, the UN special rapporteur on North Korean human rights, told the assembly that conditions in North Korea have sharply worsened since the Covid-19 pandemic.

“North Koreans have lived in near-total isolation for over five years,” she alleged.

Border closures, severe restrictions on humanitarian aid, and limited access to outside information were key factors worsening the humanitarian crisis, Salmón added.

Newly adopted laws have further restricted freedom of movement, labor rights, and freedom of expression‎, she further added.

Greg Scarlatoiu, president of the US-based nongovernment Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said the Pyongyang regime has become a global threat, citing arms exports to Russia and militant groups in the Middle East via Iran.

Scarlatoiu alleged that “North Korea’s threat now reaches far beyond Northeast Asia,” while adding that “its roots lie in the regime’s systematic human rights abuses.”