UN official defends stance on North Korea rights abuses

TOKYO: The United Nations' official in charge of investigating human rights abuses in North Korea says he stands by UN findings on widespread abuses there despite recent backtracking by a prominent defector on the details of his life in the North's prison system.

The UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, Marzuki Darusman, said at a news conference Friday that although defector-turned-activist Shin Dong-hyuk has revised some of the details of his story, it remains for the most part valid and represents the experiences of just one of hundreds of defectors interviewed by the UN's commission of inquiry.

Darusman also says he stands by calls for North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un to be held accountable for crimes against humanity.