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@article{ART003317481},
author={Hyunkyu Kim and 김재희},
title={North Korea’s Selective Acceptance of Human Rights Issues: Analysis of North Korea’s Response in the UN UPR},
journal={Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies},
issn={1225-8539},
year={2026},
volume={33},
number={1},
pages={127-158},
doi={10.18107/japs.2026.33.1.005}

TY - JOUR
AU - Hyunkyu Kim
AU - 김재희
TI - North Korea’s Selective Acceptance of Human Rights Issues: Analysis of North Korea’s Response in the UN UPR
JO - Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies
PY - 2026
VL - 33
IS - 1
PB - Institute of Global Affairs
SP - 127
EP - 158
SN - 1225-8539
AB - This study focuses on the paradox that North Korea—widely stigmatized as one of the world’s worst human-rights violators—has participated in the UNHumanRightsCouncil(UNHRC)UniversalPeriodicReview(UPR)and accepted a share of recommendations and identifies which types of recommendations North Korea accepts or rejects. Drawing on the UPR Info database, the study classifies recommendations addressed to North Korea into accepted and rejected categories and conducts a series of text-analytic procedures—term frequency (TF), term frequency–inverse document frequency (TF–IDF), and bigram analyses. It then interprets these results. The findings show that North Korea disproportionately rejects civil and political rights recommendations that directly conflict with regime security, includingthoseconcerningspecialrapporteursandspecialprocedures,access, thedeathpenalty,detention,politicalprisoncamps,torture,andforcedlabor. By contrast, it is relatively more likely to accept recommendations related to economic, social, and cultural rights—such as health, education, food, women, and children—as well as those concerning international cooperation andtreatyimplementation.NorthKoreawilllikelycontinuetoinstrumentalize the UPR process, rejecting recommendations that could undermine regime security while engaging with acceptable ones to secure cooperation and international prestige. These patterns suggest that North Korea’s UPR engagement and compliance are better explained not by norminternalization, butbyselectivecooperationconfinedto“manageable”issuesandtheattendant pursuit of image (reputational) management.
KW - HumanRights;NorthKorea;UniversalPeriodicReview;SelectiveAcceptance;Text Analysis
DO - 10.18107/japs.2026.33.1.005
ER -

Hyunkyu Kim and 김재희. (2026). North Korea’s Selective Acceptance of Human Rights Issues: Analysis of North Korea’s Response in the UN UPR. Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies, 33(1), 127-158.

Hyunkyu Kim and 김재희. 2026, "North Korea’s Selective Acceptance of Human Rights Issues: Analysis of North Korea’s Response in the UN UPR", Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies, vol.33, no.1 pp.127-158. Available from: doi:10.18107/japs.2026.33.1.005

Hyunkyu Kim, 김재희 "North Korea’s Selective Acceptance of Human Rights Issues: Analysis of North Korea’s Response in the UN UPR" Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies 33.1 pp.127-158 (2026) : 127.

Hyunkyu Kim, 김재희. North Korea’s Selective Acceptance of Human Rights Issues: Analysis of North Korea’s Response in the UN UPR. 2026; 33(1), 127-158. Available from: doi:10.18107/japs.2026.33.1.005

Hyunkyu Kim and 김재희. "North Korea’s Selective Acceptance of Human Rights Issues: Analysis of North Korea’s Response in the UN UPR" Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies 33, no.1 (2026) : 127-158.doi: 10.18107/japs.2026.33.1.005

Hyunkyu Kim; 김재희. North Korea’s Selective Acceptance of Human Rights Issues: Analysis of North Korea’s Response in the UN UPR. Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies, 33(1), 127-158. doi: 10.18107/japs.2026.33.1.005

Hyunkyu Kim; 김재희. North Korea’s Selective Acceptance of Human Rights Issues: Analysis of North Korea’s Response in the UN UPR. Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies. 2026; 33(1) 127-158. doi: 10.18107/japs.2026.33.1.005

Hyunkyu Kim, 김재희. North Korea’s Selective Acceptance of Human Rights Issues: Analysis of North Korea’s Response in the UN UPR. 2026; 33(1), 127-158. Available from: doi:10.18107/japs.2026.33.1.005

Hyunkyu Kim and 김재희. "North Korea’s Selective Acceptance of Human Rights Issues: Analysis of North Korea’s Response in the UN UPR" Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies 33, no.1 (2026) : 127-158.doi: 10.18107/japs.2026.33.1.005