The South Korean government released the English version of its report on North Korean human rights Friday, but it omitted a controversial clause included in an earlier edition that stated it would not bear responsibility for the report’s accuracy.
In April, the English report by the Ministry of Unification was taken down from the website after wide criticism over the disclaimer, which denied responsibility for the report's accuracy. The original Korean report did not contain such disclaimer.
Speaking to The Korea Herald a senior Unification Ministry official said the initial English report published in April was rushed due to high demand for an English version of the Korean report.
The report was supervised by experts before being released again Friday, the official said.
The official added that there was no significant changes in the report aside from the removal of the disclaimer.
Physical copies of the report, which was previously only available electronically, will be distributed to concerned institutions.
The Unification Ministry said that the report’s publication in English would help build consensus in the international community on the need to improve the human rights situation in North Korea.
