UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said he was "deeply disturbed" by findings of "grave" human rights violations in North Korea from a UN-mandated inquiry, saying he hoped the report would raise international awareness.

The detailed and wide-ranging report, compiled by the Commission of Inquiry (COI) on North Korea, offers a searing indictment of Pyongyang's rights record, detailing murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence.