The former chairman of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on North Korea said Wednesday that politicians in the West should view the recent death of U.S. student Otto Warmbier following captivity in the North as just one example of the innumerable human rights abuses in the country.

"I think we've got to realize that tragic as it was that Mr. Warmbier was so mistreated, he is a sort of symbol of what is going on in North Korea," Michael Kirby said.

He made the remarks at a celebration for his conferment of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, which he received from the Japanese government in April, in recognition of his work with the United Nations to investigate human rights violations in North Korea, including the abduction of Japanese citizens.

The former Australian High Court judge told Kyodo News that while he believes Warmbier "certainly" suffered psychological torture while imprisoned, the West should not focus solely on his case.

"His case is an example of thousands, and hundreds of thousands of people who have been mistreated in the prisons and in the detention camps in North Korea, so we should be concerned of all of them, not just one. Tragic as it was there are many tragedies in North Korea," he said.

In his speech to an audience of Japanese and Australian officials, including former Prime Minister John Howard, Kirby also said the number of Japanese nationals who were "spirited away" by North Korea has been greatly underestimated, and warned that we continue to live in "rather dangerous times."

Kirby also urged politicians to consider the issue of human rights abuses in North Korea as equal to any security threat Pyongyang poses.

"It's all part of a package," he told Kyodo News.

"If you simply try to deal with the security issues without addressing the human rights issues, you will never have a stable foundation for peace and security," he warned.