A/HRC/10/18 page 2 Summary The miasma ensuing from the broad range of egregious human rights violations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea requires urgent attention at all levels, from national to international. Of particular concern are the pervasive transgressions in relation to the right to food and other basic necessities, personal security, fundamental freedoms, and asylum and migration issues. Specific groups face great vulnerability. The tragedy of the country is that those at the top seek to survive at the expense and to the detriment of the majority of the population, and are behind the environment leading to these transgressions, with entrenched impunity. It is thus important that the challenge of human rights in the country be addressed more from the angle of how to prevent violations, protect human rights more effectively, ensure more efficacious provision of assistance, and enable more people’s participation in relation to an omnipotent State and those who personify it. The Special Rapporteur advocates for, in particular, short- and long-term measures, with regard to both the country concerned and the international community. Of special importance for the country, in the short term, is the need to ensure effective provision of and access to food and other basic necessities for those in need of assistance, and to enable people to undertake economic activities to satisfy their basic needs and supplement their livelihood without State interference; to end the punishment of those who seek asylum abroad and who are sent back to their country; to terminate public executions and abuses against the security of the person, and other violations of fundamental rights and freedoms; to cooperate effectively to resolve the issue of foreigners abducted by the country; and to respond constructively to the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur. In the longer term, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea should seek to modernize its national system by instituting reforms to ensure greater participation of the people in the process and compliance with international human rights standards; institute equitable development measures based upon a “people first” policy and reallocate national budgets, including military budgets, to the social sector; take more extensive food security-related measures; and guarantee personal security and freedoms by dismantling the pervasive surveillance and intelligence system, reforming the justice and prison system, and abiding by the rule of law. The international community is invited to take more proactive measures in relation to the above and to adopt an integrated approach to impel more protection for the inhabitants, with due regard for the responsibility of State authorities and their accountability for the widespread and systematic violence and violations that have led to the interminable sufferings of millions of innocent people.