Two of the most iconic figures in global efforts to improve North Korea's human rights record stressed Thursday that the world should seize this year's rare chance created by a Commission of Inquiry (COI) report.

"I firmly believe that the international community should seize this unique opportunity and momentum ... to help make a difference in the life of the people in North Korea, including victims, and to ensure the accountability of those responsible for serious violations of human rights," Marzuki Darusman, U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea said at the 4th Chaillot Human Rights Forum in Seoul.

He pointed out that the Third Committee of the U.N. will vote on a resolution against Pyongyang for its human rights abuse next week. 

Such a resolution is not new but this year's version, drafted by the European Union and co-sponsored by more than 40 nations, "encourages" the Security Council consider referral of the situation in North Korea to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

It also calls for "consideration of the scope for effective targeted sanctions" against those who are responsible for "crimes against humanity."

The tough language is based on the COI's report published in March, which details systemic and widespread violations of human rights in the communist nation.

He said it is very important to hold those responsible for the problem accountable through the international judicial process.

If the Security Council is engaged in formal discussions on the issue as the resolution urges, it would be the "first big and crucial step" in linking human rights with "security dimension" and "security aspects," said Darusman.

"The work has just begun now. And change can only happen with pressure," Darusman said, as he had a panel discussion with Robert King, the U.S. special envoy for the North Korean human rights issue, and Lee Jung-hoon, Seoul's human rights ambassador.

King agreed to the importance of passing the resolution at the Third Committee and the U.N. General Assembly.

It would be a "useful thing" to put the North Korean human rights issue on the list of agenda items at the Security Council, he said.

He was cautious, however, about whether the 15-member council will have to put it to vote immediately, citing the possibility of a failure to get approval.

China, a key community ally of North Korea, is widely expected to wield its veto power should the ICC referral issue be put to vote.

The panelists, meanwhile, agreed that the historic COI report has caused a sort of "paradigm shift" in the international community's approach toward the chronic problem.

King said the North's response to the world's longstanding criticism has markedly changed since its publication.

Pyongyang had long ignored condemnation, but it is now reacting aggressively and sensitively, he said.

The North recently freed three American citizens who had been detained there for a long time. It also ratified a U.N. protocol on the protection of children.

King said the release of the U.S. nations might be associated with Pyongyang's pursuit of better relations with the U.S. or efforts to block the passage of the resolution at the U.N.

The one thing clear is, he said, Washington did not pay any "ransom."

"We did not offer humanitarian assistance to North Korea. We did not offer deals on anything else to get the release of these American citizens. We don't do that," he emphasized.

He reaffirmed Washington's resolve to cooperate closely with South Korea and other countries to address the North Korean human rights issue.

The two-day Chaillot forum, organized by the state-funded Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), opened earlier Thursday with the theme of "North Korean Human Rights and Happiness for a Unified Korea," It has drawn 40 other South Korean and foreign experts.

The annual event is named after Palais de Chaillot in Paris, where the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was issued in 1948. (Yonhap)