Video | 'Shut up! Animals!': North Korean diplomats cause chaos at UN meeting as defectors speak on rights

A US-organised event on North Korea’s human rights descended into chaos at the UN on Thursday as North Korean diplomats insisted on reading a statement of protest, amid shouts from defectors, and then stormed out.

The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, tried to quiet the diplomats at the event that featured more than 20 defectors. She called North Korea’s statements “totally self-discrediting.”

The North Korean diplomats did not comment as they left the chamber after diplomat Ri Song-chol read out a statement in protest of the event, even as North Korean defectors stood and shouted in their faces.

Nuclear-armed North Korea has been on the defensive ever since a groundbreaking UN commission of inquiry detailed vast rights abuses there. North Korea has repeatedly referred to defectors who co-operated in the inquiry “human scum.”

Defectors stood up and shouted in Korean as Power and others called for calm and a UN security team assembled. An observer who speaks Korean said the shouts included “Shut up!” “Free North Korea!” “Down with Kim Jong Un!” and “Even animals know to wait their turn.”

“There is no need for a microphone,” Power said as one North Korean diplomat persisted in reading out a statement that referred to “ungrounded allegations” and “hostile policy” toward his country. A microphone was briefly turned on for the diplomats.