Seoul: North Korea has failed to properly cooperate in resolving abductee issues, and South Korea and the international community need to continue raising the matter, a U.N. human rights expert has said, calling it a prerequisite for achieving lasting peace.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Gabriella Citroni, chair of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), stated in an interview that her office has received 538 cases concerning persons abducted and disappeared in North Korea. "Many of those cases involve South Korean citizens who were abducted or whose fate and whereabouts are currently unknown," Citroni said during her visit to Seoul for discussions with South Korean officials.

Citroni highlighted that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has not provided satisfactory responses to the cases transmitted through the United Nations' permanent mission in Geneva. She urged South Korea and the international community to maintain pressure on North Korea to clarify the fate and whereabouts of the disappeared, emphasizing that unresolved issues of disappeared persons hinder lasting reconciliation and peace agreements.

The U.N. expert dismissed suggestions to prioritize political issues like denuclearization over human rights, asserting that unresolved human rights issues could undermine peace efforts. The WGEID serves as a communication channel between victims' families, human rights groups, and governments to determine the fate of missing relatives.

Citroni also addressed the issue of Korean victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery, linking some cases to enforced disappearances and highlighting the lack of full reparations. She reiterated the need for Japan to acknowledge and fulfill survivors' rights to justice, reparations, and guarantees of non-repetition, as stated in a joint declaration by U.N. experts in March.