Western and Asian powers will begin pressing this week for North Korea to be held liable for crimes against humanity documented in a United Nations report, but concede that their chances of influencing the isolated country are slim.
North Korean security chiefs and possibly even Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un should face international justice for ordering systematic torture, starvation and killings comparable with Nazi-era atrocities, U.N. investigators said last month.
Their findings, based on testimony from hundreds of victims, defectors and witnesses, were unequivocal. They demanded closure of political prison camps believed to hold up to 120,000 people and action by the International Criminal Court (ICC).