Evidence given in recent days to the first United Nations investigation into human rights abuses in North Korea have included testimony about forced amputations and how a mother was forced to kill her own new-born baby.

“I thought my whole hand was going to be cut off at the wrist, so I felt thankful and grateful that only my finger was cut off," Shin Dong-hyuk, who was punished for dropping a sewing machine, told the UN commission of inquiry.

Thanks to a book and his outspoken criticism of the North Korean regime, Shin is one of the most famous defectors, but paid a high price for his own survival.

Born in captivity in Camp 14, he informed on his own mother and brother to ensure he lived and was forced to attend their executions.

During testimony nine days ago, Jee Heon-a, 34, described how a mother was forced to kill her own baby.

“It was the first time I had seen a newborn baby and I felt happy. But suddenly there were footsteps and a security guard came in and told the mother to turn the baby upside down into a bowl of water,” she said.

“The mother begged the guard to spare her, but he kept beating her. So the mother, her hands shaking, put the baby face down in the water. The crying stopped and a bubble rose up as it died. A grandmother who had delivered the baby quietly took it out.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/10273355/Executions-and-torture-are-daily-life-in-North-Koreas-prisons.html