U.N. panel urges North Korea to improve human rights situation

A working group of the U.N. Human Rights Council on Wednesday urged North Korea to improve the human rights situation in the country in line with nearly 300 recommendations, addressing issues such as the decades-old matter of abductions of Japanese nationals.The group's report featured a total of 294 recommendations also covering torture, the death penalty and the "songbun" system that categorizes the population based on origin. The review, which began last week, was the first for North Korea in five years.Pyongyang promised to respond before the council holds a session in February, but hin…READ FULL ARTICLE