Christian Solidarity Worldwide has said it hopes a UN-led inquiry into North Korean human rights abuses will be the first step towards justice for the country's people.
The inquiry was approved in a historic resolution adopted at the United Nations on Thursday.
Under the resolution, a Commission of Inquiry will be established "to investigate the systematic, widespread and grave violations of human rights" in North Korea.
The inquiry will investigate a wide scope of abuses, including the use of prison camps, accounts of torture and inhuman treatment, arbitrary detention,abductions and violations of freedom of expression.
Its launch follows calls for an inquiry from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, and Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea, Marzuki Darusman, who described the abuses as "egregious".
CSW is among the human rights organisations that have campaigned for years against human rights abuses in North Korea.
It describes the hermit communist country as "one of the world's most brutal regimes".
CSW's Advocacy Director Andrew Johnston said, "We hope that the Commission of Inquiry will expose the extent of the North Korean government's human rights violations and provide the first steps towards justice for the North Korean people, who have suffered terribly under one of the world's most brutal, and most closed, regimes."
