On April 22, WilmerHale’s Washington DC office hosted a panel discussion entitled “Crimes Against Humanity: The UN Report on Human Rights Violations in North Korea” as part of the firm’s Diversity Speaker Series. The discussion focused on North Korea’s human rights violations, outlined in a comprehensive report released in February by the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The panel was co-sponsored by the American Society of International Law, Washington Foreign Law Society and International Law Section of the District of Columbia Bar.

The panel included Ambassador Robert. R. King, US Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues; John Sifton, Asia Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch; and Roberta Cohen, Co-Chair of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and Non-Resident Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution. Associate David Beraka, a former professional staff member at the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, moderated the discussion.

More than 50 attendees, including local attorneys, government officials and legal scholars, turned out to hear the panelists discuss the recent report, as well as its implications for further action by the United Nations.

View a full recording of the panel discussion.