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Michael Kirby Urges Continued Fight for Human Rights in North Korea

Justice Michael Kirby, the former chairman of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea, was interviewed by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea in a new video released Tuesday.

Kirby gave his assessment on the present situation on human rights there, China's role advancing the rights of North Koreans, and some of the most compelling problems that victims of Kim Jong-un's regime face today.

Kirby related a story about the terrible malnutrition happening in the poverty-stricken country, noting that his commission's report had found there was a "daily grind" for the people of North Korea to merely get enough food to eat every day.

Kirby also went over the conditions and torture of North Korea's detention camps, as well as what he felt that human right's groups and other NGOs could do to make sure the voices of North Korea were not forgotten.

"We can speak out for them and to them, and it's important that the United Nations should make our voices heard in North Korea, and that is an important message that we should bring. Civil society should bring it, and they should remember the motto: Never give up, never give up, never give up. That is the motto that they should accept," Kirby said, until the human right's situation there is "radically changed for the better."

Kirby urged viewers to keep the matter on the agenda of the international community.

"Stay the course, continue your efforts. Never give up in your efforts to bring human rights to North Korea," he said. "Be absolutely sure that in the end, human rights will come to North Korea. We humans are genetically programmed to search for rationality and to love one another and because of that fact, we will ultimately see an end to the oppression of human rights in North Korea. When that happens, HRNK will have an honored place in those who have worked for human rights for the people of North Korea."