Human rights in North Korea

The human rights record of North Korea is extremely difficult to fully assess due to the secretive and closed nature of the country. The North Korean government makes it very difficult for foreigners to enter the country and strictly monitors their activities when they do. Even aid workers are subject to considerable scrutiny and excluded from places and regions the government does not wish them to enter. Since citizens cannot freely leave the country, it is mainly from stories of refugees and defectors that the nation's human rights record has been constructed. The government's position, expressed through the Korean Central News Agency, is that North Korea has no human rights issue, because its socialist system was chosen by the people and serves them faithfully.

While it is difficult to piece together a clear picture of the situation within the country, it is overwhelmingly clear that the government of North Korea controls virtually all activities within the nation. Citizens are not allowed to freely speak their minds and the government detains those who criticize the regime. The only legal radio, television, and news organizations are operated by the government. The media universally praise the administration of Kim Jong-Il, who remains the unelected leader of the country.

A number of human rights organizations and governments have condemned North Korea's human rights record, including Amnesty International and the United Nations. In its 2006 country report on North Korea, Freedom House stated that, "North Korea is a totalitarian dictatorship and one of the most restrictive countries in the world. Every aspect of social, political, and economic life is tightly controlled by the state. The regime denies North Koreans all basic rights, subjects tens of thousands of political prisoners to brutal conditions, and maintains a largely isolationist foreign policy." North Korea received Freedom House's lowest ratings in both civil liberties and political rights, categorizing it as "Not Free". In 2004, the United States passed the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004, which censured North Korea and outlined steps the United States should take to promote democracy and freedom in North Korea. With the exception of the international abductions issue, which it says has been fully resolved, North Korea strongly denies all reports of human rights violations and accuses the defectors of lying and promoting a pro-US agenda.

Civil liberties

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has officially acknowledged the widespread human rights violations that regularly occur in North Korea. The following section is a direct quote from the United Nation's Human Rights Resolution 2005/11 referring specifically to occurrences in North Korea:

Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, public executions, extrajudicial and arbitrary detention, the absence of due process and the rule of law, imposition of the death penalty for political reasons, the existence of a large number of prison camps and the extensive use of forced labour;

Sanctions on citizens of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea who have been repatriated from abroad, such as treating their departure as treason leading to punishments of internment, torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or the death penalty;

All-pervasive and severe restrictions on the freedoms of thought, conscience, religion, opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association and on access of everyone to information, and limitations imposed on every person who wishes to move freely within the country and travel abroad;

Continued violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women, in particular the trafficking of women for prostitution or forced marriage, ethnically motivated forced abortions, including by labour inducing injection or natural delivery, as well as infanticide of children of repatriated mothers, including in police detention centres and labour training camps;

Freedom of expression

The constitution has clauses guaranteeing the freedoms of speech and assembly. In practice other clauses take precedence, including the requirement that citizens follow a socialist way of life. Criticism of the government and its leaders is strictly curtailed and making such statements can be cause for arrest and consignment to one of North Korea's infamous "re-education" camps. The government distributes all radio and television sets; citizens are forbidden to alter them to make it possible to receive broadcasts from other nations, and doing so carries strict penalties.

There are numerous civic organizations but all of them appear to be operated by the government. All routinely praise the government and perpetuate the personality cults of Kim Jong-il and his deceased father Kim Il-sung. Defectors indicate that the promotion of the cult of personality is one of the primary functions of almost all movies, plays, and books produced within the country.

Freedom of religion

See also: Religion in North Korea

Though the government officially estimates that there are 10,000 Protestants, 100,000 Buddhists, and 4,000 Catholics worshipping at 500 churches, it is unknown if there are any Catholic priests in the country and some reports indicate that the religious organizations that do exist are primarily meant to facilitate interaction with other nations. It is known that in China near the border with North Korea, a number of Christian organizations have been active, helping refugees and, by many reports, smuggling in Bibles and other religious material.

The government was concerned that faith-based South Korean relief and refugee assistance efforts along the northeast border of China had both humanitarian and political goals, including overthrow of the regime. Defectors cite instances of execution of individuals involved with the Bible smuggling.

In Pyongyang there are three Christian churches that were built to showcase religious freedom where foreigners can attend religious services; many report that the sermons mix political and religious messages glorifying North Korea, and that some of the pastors seem to have had no religious training or even any interest in theology.

Freedom of movement

Usually citizens cannot freely travel around the country or go abroad. Only the political élite may own vehicles and the government limits access to fuel and other forms of transportation. (Satellite photos of North Korea show an almost complete lack of vehicles on the roads.) Forced resettlement of citizens and families, especially as punishment for political reasons, is said to be routine.

Only the most politically reliable and healthiest citizens are allowed to live in Pyongyang. Those who are suspected of sedition, or have family members suspected of it, are removed from the city; similar conditions affect those who are physically or mentally disabled in some way. This can be a significant method of coercion as food and housing are said to be much better in the capital city.

Freedom of the press

North Korea is at the very bottom of the World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders. All media is strictly controlled by the government. The national media dedicates a large portion of its resources toward political propaganda and promoting the personality cult of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il. In addition, the media is said to make false claims, and the use of the United States as a scapegoat is common. For instance, the North Korean media claims that the United States started the Korean War, which Soviet archives show to have started with a premeditated invasion from the north.

Radio or television sets which can be bought in North Korea are pre-set to receive only the government frequencies and sealed with a label to prevent tampering with the equipment. It is a serious criminal offense to manipulate the sets and receive radio or television broadcasts from outside North Korea. In a party campaign in 2003 the head of each party cell in neighbourhoods and villages received instructions to verify the seals on all radio sets.

As North and South Korea use different television systems (SECAM and NTSC respectively) it is not possible to view broadcasts across the border between the two countries; however, in areas bordering China, it has reportedly been possible to receive television from that country.

Minority rights

North Korea's population is one of the world's most ethnically homogenous and today immigration is almost nonexistent. Among the few immigrants that have willingly gone to North Korea are Japanese spouses (generally wives) of Koreans who returned from Japan from 1955 to the early 1980's. These Japanese have been forced to assimilate and for the most part, the returnees overall are reported to (with a few exceptions, such as those who became part of the government) have not been fully accepted into North Korean society and instead ended up on the fringes, including concentration camps mentioned below. Foreigners who visit the country are generally strictly monitored and forbidden from entering certain locations.

Disabled rights

On March 22, 2006, the Associated Press reported from South Korea that a North Korean doctor who defected, Ri Kwang-chol, has claimed that babies born with physical defects are rapidly put to death and buried.

Criminal justice

The prison system

North Korea's government routinely detains, tortures, and imprisons thousands of individuals who are either dissidents or alleged saboteurs. While the administration of Kim Jong-il maintains that it does not do any of these things, many refugees have come forward and recounted stories which describe conditions within the country. The government is accused of employing political prison camps, believed to hold as many as 200,000 inmates, including children whose only crime is having "class enemies" for relatives. There have been widespread reports from North Korean refugees of abortion, infanticide, and famine in these prison camps. Extreme physical abuse is common (beatings often result in death).

In 2002, a former party official named Sun-Ok Lee gave testimony before a committee of the United States House of Representatives on her own treatment within North Korea's criminal system. She reported extensive torture, including the loss of eight teeth and permanent facial paralysis. She also reported that she was tried in a "kangaroo court" and sentenced to 13 years in a prison camp. She received unusually light treatment because of her background as an accountant. According to her statement, "I testifies [sic] that most of the 6,000 prisoners who were there when I arrived in 1987 had quietly perished under the harsh prison conditions by the time I was released in 1992." She reported numerous tortures and deaths of individuals in her camp, including the killing of the babies and unborn children of women in the camp upon their arrival. Her testimony is consistent with many other reports.

A 2004 BBC documentary also reported that in one of these camps, North Korea tests chemical weapons on prisoners in a gas chamber. Life in the camps has been covered in several other documentaries, such as The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol-Hwan.

Known location of prison camps

The following is a list of some known and prominent locations of North Korean prison camps, but is by no means exhaustive:

• Bukchang
• Chongjin
• Daeheung
• Danchun
• Haengyong
• Hoeryong I Google Earth Tour of Camp 22, Hoeryong, allegedly the worst of the camps
• Hwasong I Google Earth images of Camp 16, Hwasong, scene of a recent mass escape.
• Jeonger-ri
• Kaechon
• Kangdong
• Kyungsung
• Onsong (closed 1987 after riot massacre)
• Oro
• Senghori
• Sinuiji
• Yongdam
• Yodok

Economy

Famine and the food distribution system

In the aftermath of the Korean War and throughout the 1960s and '70s, the country's state-controlled economy grew at a significant rate and, until the late 1970s, was considered to be stronger than that of the South. The country struggled into the 1990s, primarily due to the loss of strategic trade arrangements with the USSR and strained relations with China - following China's normalization with South Korea in 1992. In addition, North Korea experienced record-breaking floods (1995 and 1996) followed by several years of equally severe drought beginning in 1997. This, compounded with only 18 percent arable land and an inability to import the goods necessary to sustain industry, led to an immense famine and left North Korea in economic shambles. The famine resulted in the death of around 600,000 people.

By 1999, food and development aid reduced famine deaths. In the spring of 2005, the World Food Program reported that famine conditions were in imminent danger of returning to North Korea, and the government was reported to have ordered millions of city-dwellers to the countryside to perform farm labor. In 2005, the agricultural situation showed signs of improvement, rising 5.3% to 4.54 million tons; this was largely the result of increased donations of fertilizers from South Korea. However, the World Food Program stated that this was short of the estimated 6 million tons necessary to adequately feed the population. Nevertheless, North Korea called for food aid to cease, and shipments of food to the country ended on December 31 of that year. In the same period, news sources reported that North Korea continued to raise food prices while reducing food rations.

North Korea's society is highly stratified by class, according to a citizen's family and political background. Refugees International, Médecins Sans Frontières, and Amnesty International have all accused North Korea of discriminating against those in "hostile" classes in the distribution of basic necessities, including food. In some "closed" areas that contained a higher concentration of "hostile" class members, the government appears to have prevented the delivery of significant amounts of food aid.

North Korea maintains a massive military machine and supports an extravagant lifestyle for its leader, Kim Jong-Il. Before the cessation of food shipments at the end of 2005, the World Food Program sought $200 million in emergency food aid for North Korea, an increase from its 2004 request of $171 million. By comparison, its 2002 defense budget was $5.2 billion according to the CIA World Factbook.

International abductions

Main articles: North Korean abductions of South Koreans and North Korean abductions of Japanese

In the decades after the Korean War there were reports that North Korea had abducted many foreign nationals, mainly South Koreans and Japanese. For years these were dismissed as conspiracy theories even by many of the regime's critics; however, in September 2002, Kim Jong-Il acknowledged the involvement of North Korean "special institutions" in the kidnapping of Japanese citizens in the late 1970s and early 1980s to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. He stated that those responsible had been punished. Five surviving victims were allowed to visit Japan and decided not to return to North Korea. For eight more Japanese abductees, officials claimed deaths caused by accidents or illnesses; Japan says this leaves two still unaccounted for, and says that what the North claimed were the ashes of Megumi Yokota were not hers. In addition, information from American deserter Charles Robert Jenkins indicates that North Korea kidnapped a Thai woman in 1978.

Despite the admission to Prime Minister Koizumi, the North Korean government continues to deny the kidnappings of other foreign nationals and refuses any cooperation to investigate further cases of suspected abductions. However, officials of the South Korean government claim that 486 South Koreans, mostly fishermen, are believed to have been abducted since the end of the Korean War. Advocates and family members have accused the government of doing little or nothing to gain their freedom.

See also

• List of Korea-related topics
• Politics in North Korea
• Human rights in East Asia

External links

• Chosun Journal
• Official materials related to the North Korean Human Rights Act
• Liberty in North Korea
• U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea
• Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights (in Korean and English)
• North Korea Freedom House
• Chronology of reported anti-government resistance
• Report, commissioned by Vaclav Havel, Elie Wiesel, and Kjell Magne Bondevik calls North Korea's famine "a crime against humanity" and calls for the U.N. to act (pdf).
• "The Problem of Human Rights in North Korea", Hwang Jang-yop, Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights.
• Google earth images of the North Korean concentration camps at Camp 22, with accounts of the atrocities alleged to occur there, and Camp 16, with a report of a December 2006 mass escape by 120 prisoners.
• Archive of North Korea coverage at the International Freedom of Expression Exchange.
• Archive of North Korea reports at Amnesty International.
• Archive of North Korea reports at Human Rights Watch.
• 2005 North Korea report at Freedom House.
• 2005 Annual Report of Reporters Without Borders.
• 2004 Report of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
• US North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004
• Soon Ok Lee project - website calling for Christian solidarity with Korean refugees.
• Humanitarian Development Resource Centre (OCHA archived site)

Web Logs

• One Free Korea: Updated daily; focusing on human rights, political, economic, and military issues, often with Google-Earth tours of North Korea's most secret places
• RU NK: Focusing primarily on human rights issues, by a member of Liberty in North Korea
• NK Zone: Includes a variety of perspectives, with a greater focus on cultural and economic issues

News reports

• "UN Human Rights Envoy Meets North Korean Defectors", Voice of America News, November 10, 2005.
• "Dissident reveals N Korean horrors", Kwang-Tae Kim, Associated Press, November 22, 2005.
• "Alleged North Korean Dissident Under Probe in Seoul", The Korea Times, November 22, 2005.
• "Washington Sees N.Korea Human Rights Conference", The Chosun Ilbo, July 20, 2005.
• "Opening a Window on North Korea's Horrors", The Washington Post, October 4, 2003.

U.S. State Department Annual Reports

• Religious Freedom Report 2005
• Religious Freedom Report 2004
• Religious Freedom Report 2003
• Religious Freedom Report 2002
• Religious Freedom Report 2001
• Human Rights Report 2004
• Human Rights Report 2003
• Human Rights Report 2002
• Human Rights Report 2001
• Human Rights Report 2000
• Human Rights Report 1999

Movies

• Seoul Train
• Children of the Secret State