NEW YORK
A North Korean diplomat interrupted Thursday a UN panel discussing prisons in the reclusive country by reading an unauthorized statement.
North Korean defectors told harrowing accounts of human rights abuses including torture, starvation and executions during the U.S.-sponsored "Victims Voices" event.
Immediately after the end of defector Joseph Kim's speech, in which he recounted his difficult childhood, a member of a trio of North Korean diplomats rose and read the statement amid protest from panelists and the audience, some of whom were stood and yelled in Korean.
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power described the disturbance as "a self-discrediting exercise," and asked the technical personnel to "shut the mike down" during the North Korean diplomat's speech.
The trio eventually stormed out of the conference room, escorted by UN security personnel.
At the opening of the panel, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic said, "Over the past year, we have seen new signs of engagement from the DPRK," referring to the country's original name, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"We must nurture and build upon these tentative signs of engagement," he said.
In December, the abysmal human rights record of the reclusive country came under scrutiny for the first time at the UN Security Council despite opposition from China and Russia.
