A majority of South Koreans polled cast doubt on the effectiveness of Seoul’s new North Korean human rights law and the possibility of improving the human rights situation in North Korea, South Korea’s Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB) said on Thursday.

94.1 percent of respondents agreed that North Korea’s human rights situation was severe, the organization revealed at a conference entitled "South Koreans' Perception of North Korean Human Rights" after surveying 1,000 South Koreans over the phone.