The United Nations warned Tuesday of a deeply institutionalized system of forced labor in North Korea, which in some cases could amount to the crime against humanity of enslavement.
In a damning report, the U.N. rights office detailed how people in the reclusive and authoritarian country were "controlled and exploited through an extensive and multi-layered system of forced labor."
"The testimonies in this report give a shocking and distressing insight into the suffering inflicted through forced labor upon people," U.N. rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.