Shin Dong-hyuk, who says he was born into one of North Korea’s political prison camps in 1982, wrote a book called “Escape from Camp 14” describing many atrocities, including being forced to watch the execution of his mother and brother.
Shin’s testimony is one of the key elements of a UN report alleging that the country's police and security forces of North Korea have committed crimes against humanity, including rape, torture, forced abortions and systematic extermination.
While the UN report calls for the Security Council to refer the issue to the International Criminal Court, this is unlikely to happen, given China has the power to veto such a move and has already publicly rejected the document.
Al Jazeera's Cath Turner reports from New York.
