Human Rights and the Characteristics of the North Korean System
B. The Concept of Human Rights under Juche Ideology and “Socialism in Our Own Style“
The ideological doctrine of the North Korean regime is based on the ideology of Juche(Self-reliance).18The Jucheideology emphasizes a human-centered world view and defines man as not only a physical being, but also social being with “self-reliance, creativity and consciousness.” The class theory of Jucheand Marxism is very similiar. However, Jucheinsists that the materialist interpre- tations of man are limited. In other words, though dialectical materialism can reveal the general nature of the material world, it cannot provide a definite explanation of man’s status and role in the
17_Kim Jong-il, “Socialism is Science” (Nov. 2, 1994), Selections from Kim Jong-il, Vol.
13 (Pyongyang: KWP Publishers, 1998), p. 453.
18_The first article discuss Juche ideology in a systematic manner was “On Juche Ideology” published on March 31, 1982. This was followed by the Series of the Great Juche Ideology, which provided a concrete explanation of Juche Ideology, revolutionary theory and governing methods.
universe. Juche argues, therefore, that its ideology has a complete scientific understanding of man, as it has overcome the limits of dialectical materialism, which failed to prove that “man, the most progressed material being, is the master of the world and plays a definitive role in the development of the world.”19
Juche emphasizes that all people are masters of their own destiny and world, and that they are self-reliant beings who do not wish to be bound by anyone else. But the “self-reliance” emphasized by the juche ideology does not imply individual creativity and independence, because according to juche, an “individual’s creativity and self-reliance should be realized within the bounds of the collective, unified society.” That is to say, the life of the socio-political collective is more important than the life of the individual.20 In addition, it insists that “The suryong (leader) is the mastermind and center of the socio-political collective.” In this manner, juche establishes that individual independence is subordinate to the collective headed by the suryong.21The juche ideology is thought to be the scientific road to human liberation, but the “man-centered world outlook” in juche is actually a collectivist world-view and a ruling theory centered on “the revolutionary viewpoint of the suryong.” Under this view, the suryong alone is defined as the subject, or master, of historical development, making absolute adherence to the suryong’s instructions, or ‘teachings’ mandatory.
The “10 Principles for Safeguarding the Unitary Ideology System” explicitly states the following: (1) We must do our best to unify the entire society with the ideology of the Great Leader
19_Kim Jong-il, “On a few issues raised during Juche Ideological Education.” Collected Writings of Dear Leader Comrade Kim Jong-il(Pyongyang: KWP Publishers, 1992), pp. 148-149.
20_Kim Jong-il, Ibid., p. 162.
21_Kim Jong-il, Op. cit., p. 160.
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63 Comrade Kim Il-sung. (2) We must honor the Great Leader Comrade Kim Il-sung with all our loyalty. (3) The authority of the Great Leader Comrade Kim Il-sung is absolute. (4) We must make the Great Leader Comrade Kim Il-sung’s revolutionary ideology our faith and make his instructions our creed. (5) We must unconditionally obey the instructions of the Great Leader Kim Il-sung.22The text also justifies the hereditary power succession by stating that, (10) The great revolution pioneered by the Great Leader Kim Il-sung must be passed down and perfected via hereditary succession until the end of time.”
From the late 1980s, North Korea began to advertise “socialism in our own way,” which was supposed to reflect juche ideology, and popularized the slogan, “Let’s live according to our own way.”23 In its Preamble, North Korea’s Socialist Constitution enunciates,
“Comrade Kim Il-sung, whose motto was ‘believing in the people as in heaven,’ was always with the people, completely devoted to the people, took care of and led the people with his politics of benevolence, and thus turned the whole society into one great, single-hearted and united family.” North Korea argues that since the Kim Il-sung/Kim Jong-il regime “turned the whole society into one great, single-hearted and united family” through “the noble politics of benevolence” based on care and trust, the human rights problem itself does not exist in their society. North Korea’s concept of human rights, which draws heavily on feudalistic Confucian logic, cannot stand alongside the concept of universal human rights encoded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which declares, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”
22_The Central Committee of KWP, “Ten Principles for the Establishment of the Unitary Ideology System,” 1974.
23_Korea Institute for National Unification, North Korea in Brief, 2009(Seoul: Korea Institute for National Unification, 2009), p. 34.
Since the mid-1990s, a large number of hunger-stricken North Koreans have fled to China in search of food. The personal testimonies of these North Koreans helped expose the human rights situation inside the tightly closed North Korean society to the international community. Since the year 2000, sections of the international community organized around the UN human rights regime began to demand that North Korea improve its human rights situation. The UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) repeatedly adopted resolutions on North Korean human rights over the three year period from 2003~2005. At the 60th Human Rights Commission meeting in April 2004 the UNCHR appointed a special rapporteur on North Korean human rights who was assigned to file an annual report on North Korea’s implementation of the human rights covenants.24Meanwhile, every year from 2005 onward the UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution on North Korean human rights, and the UN Human Rights Council
24_Vitit Muntarbhorn was appointed as the first special rapporteur and served until June 2010, when he was succeeded by Marzuki Darusman of Indonesia.
3
The International Human Rights Regime and North Korean Human Rights
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65 (UNHRC), which replaced the UNCHR in March 2006, has adopted resolutions calling on North Korea to improve the human rights situation every year since 2008.
In April 2008 the UNHRC launched its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, designed to promote human rights accountability and equal treatment towards each of the UN’s 192 member states. Under the UPR, each UN member state is subject to a human rights review every four years. The UNHRC reviewed North Korea’s human rights record at a UPR session in December 7, 2009, and the Working Group prepared a report summarizing the proceedings and recommendations.25However, at the 13th meeting of the UNHRC held in Geneva on March 18, 2010, the DPRK delegation rejected 50 of the recommendations in the Working Group’s report and left 117 pending, including issues such as the prohibition of public executions, the abolition of concentration camps, and permission for the UN special rapporteur to visit North Korea. On March 24, 2011, the UNHCR adopted yet another resolution on North Korean human rights. The UNHCR expressed deep concern over the comprehensive and systematic human rights violations in North Korea, and extended the mission of Marzuki Darusman, UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the DPRK, for another year.
Every year for the past seven years, the United Nations General Assembly has adopted resolutions on North Korean human rights. On November 21, 2011, the UN’s Third Committeee
25_The UPR reports are analyzed at a “working group” consisting of 47 executive member states within the UNHRC, but other member states are also allowed to participate as “observers” and discuss issues during the review sessions. See National Human Rights Commission, ed., Collection of Materials on Universal Periodic Review – DPRK and Reactions of South Korea, NGOs, and INGOs(Seoul: NHRC, March 2010), pp. 129-157.
adopted a resolution that exposed the reality of and expressed deep concern over North Korean human rights violations. The resolution was made in the same comprehensive manner as the previous year’s resolution.26
The resolution reminds us that North Korea is a United Nations member country and a state party to the following four international conventions on human rights: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women; and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In addition, it lamented North Korea’s failure to follow the Universal Periodic Review’s March 2010 recommendations and refusal to allow the Special Rapporteur to visit North Korea. It also stated that inter-Korean dialogue would contribute to improving North Korea’s human rights situation and humanitarian condition. In addition, the committee expressed hope that separated families may have more frequent reunions. Meanwhile, the resolution applauded North Korea’s efforts to collaborate with international organizations and improve the human rights situation in the areas of health, education and development. However, the resolution also expressed deep concern over a number of important issues, including torture and inhumane detentions, the lack of an independent judiciary, the implementation of capital punishment for religious reasons, the operation of political concentration camps, the harsh punishment of deported defectors, the repression of freedom of speech, relocation, beliefs, and religion, human trafficking, prostitution, forced abortions, persecution of the
26_UN General Assembly Sixty-sixth session Third Committee, “Situation of Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” UN Doc. A/C.3/66/L.54 (October 28, 2011).
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67 disabled, and lack of labor rights. The resolution stated that serious and systematic human rights abuses are widely and persistently committed in North Korea. The UN resolution also condemned North Korea for not permitting visits by the UN special rapporteur on North Korean human rights, for not carrying out various recommendations made at the UPR session, and for showing an unclear stance on the abductions of foreign citizens. The UN recommendation expressed deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation brought on by the North Korean authorities who failed to properly distribute grain to the victims of natural disasters and prohibited the personal cultivation or transaction of grain. Finally, it firmly called on the North Korean authorities to take measures to improve the human rights situation and respect all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The UN promotes human rights throughout the world in cooperation with the UN member states and international NGOs.
The UN, EU, US and various international human rights groups have developed a network for the improvement of human rights worldwide and have made efforts to improve the human rights situation in North Korea. In June 2001 the EU was able to formally tackle the issue of human rights with North Korea. Since 2003, the EU has taken the lead in adopting human rights resolutions against the DPRK. When the UN General Assembly adopted a North Korean human rights resolution in November 2005, North Korea cut off dialogue with the EU. However, from early 2007, North Korea began to reestablish its diplomatic contact with the EU in order to solicit economic assistance.27 However, after North Korea
27_The third EU-North Korea Economic Workshop was held in October 2007, and the 9th and 10th “political dialogues” were held in succession in June of 2008 and March of 2009 in Pyongyang. See the Delegation of the European Union to the
conducted its second nuclear test in May of 2009 the relationship between the two deteriorated again. The EU stands firm on the issues of human rights and nuclear development but remains committed to engaging North Korea through humanitarian assistance in an attempt to open the closed society. From the 6th to the 15th of June, 2011, the EU sent a team of humanitarian aid experts to North Korea to assess the food situation in the country. The food assessment team evaluated the overall food situation after inspecting hospitals, kindergartens, markets and collective farms. On July 4, the European Commission announced that it would provide food aid worth 10 million Euros to the 650,000 people living in the northeast region of North Korea.28
Since the enactment of the North Korean Human Rights Act in 2004, the United States has led various efforts to improve the human rights situation in North Korea. It has provided grants to private, nonprofit organizations to support programs that promote human rights in North Korea. In September 2008, the US Congress extended the North Korean Human Rights Act for four more years.29 After the inauguration of President Barack Obama in January 2009, the US promised to help the world’s weakest states reduce poverty.
However, from the onset the Obama administration had to deal with provocative actions from North Korea such as the test-firing of long-range missiles and a second nuclear test, which hampered President Obama’s efforts to initiate a new human rights policy toward North Korea. The 2010 Human Rights Report released by
Republic of Korea, “EU-DPRK,” <www.delkor.ec.europa.eu/home/kr_relations/
dprkrelations/dprkrelations.html>.
28_European Commission – Press Release, “The European Commission will give emergency food aid to North Korea” (Brussels, July 4, 2011).
29_US House of Representatives, H.R. 5834, North Korean Human Rights Re- Authorization Act of 2008 (Sept. 25, 2008).
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69 the U.S. Department of State assessed that the overall human rights situation in North Korea remains grim, as executions without the due process of law, disappearances, arbitrary detention and brutal torture were still prevalent.30 Meanwhile, Robert King, the U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues, visited North Korea from May 24th to the 28th. He assessed food shortages and raised human rights issues during his meeting with North Korean authorities. After the trip, he said that the U.S. is working on a plan to extend food aid to North Korea.
International organizations and NGOs continue to monitor the human rights situation in North Korea and pressure North Korea to improve the situation. In its 2010 Annual Report, Amnesty International (AI) reported a significant decrease of international humanitarian aid to North Korea and over nine million people suffering from a severe grain shortage. The 2011 Human Rights Report released by Amnesty International criticized North Korea for the widespread human rights abuses that occurred during their power transition, including restrictions on the freedom of association, arbitrary detentions and torture. Human Rights Watch also noted that more people were dying of starvation across North Korea since the currency reform of November 2009. The 2011 Human Rights Report expressed deep concerns over the persistence of human rights violations such as torture, public executions, political prison camps, and punishment of defectors, violations which continue despite the fact that North Korea’s Socialist Constitution stipulates protection of human rights. Along with AI and Human Rights Watch, US-based National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House, and other international human rights organizations have
30_U.S. Department of State, 2010 Human Rights Report: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (April 8, 2011).
become involved. In addition to these well-known international organizations, human rights NGOs in the US and South Korea have taken the lead in shaping the international opinion on the North Korean human rights situation. Among the many active civilian groups, the North Korea Freedom Coalition is of particular impor- tance. It has been hosting a “North Korean Freedom Week” in Washington, DC every year since 2004, demanding democracy and an improvement in the human rights situation in North Korea. In 2010, the seventh “North Korea Freedom Week” was held in Seoul and co-sponsored by several South Korean NGOs. The American and South Korean human rights NGOs observed “North Korea Freedom Week” from April 25~May 1, 2010 in Seoul, hosting a number of exhibitions, lectures, and public rallies in their efforts to publicize the human rights abuses occurring in North Korea and calling on the North Korean regime to embrace openness and reform. The 8th Freedom Week was held in Seoul from April 24 through May 1 in 2011 and was titled “Abolish the Political Prison Camps in North Korea” and “Pass the North Korean Human Rights Act in South Korea.” Throughout the event, North Korean human rights organizations held various exhibitions and forums, and a rally was also held in front of the Chinese Embassy in Seoul to protest the forced repatriation of North Korean defectors.
Later, the North Korean freedom coalition hosted a public rally protesting against the Chinese government for forced repatriation of North Korean defectors in 24 cities of 13 countries on september 22. Human Rights organizations all over the world including nations such as the U.S., the Great Britain, Australia, Japan, Korea, etc.
participated in the rally as well.
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