Kerry spoke at a gathering of foreign officials and activists yesterday to draw attention to the findings of a UN commission of inquiry that in February concluded that North Korea's authoritarian government had committed crimes against humanity.
Kerry said that abuses detailed in the commission's 400-page report "have no place in the 21st century."
The UN commission estimated that between 80,000 and 120,000 political prisoners are currently detained in four large camps, where deliberate starvation has been used as a means of control and punishment.