attorneys, and private attorneys refer to those who have studied and practiced law without being employed. It has been reported that private defense is not accepted in cases of murder or crimes punishable by life imprisonment. If the occurrence of murder is confirmed during trial, the defense counsel is required to stop defending the defendant and resign.223
Testimonies have been collected stating that defense attorneys spoke in favor of the accused. In particular, it appears that defense attorneys tend to play a more active role when the accused is from a good family background (todae) or pays a bribe. A North Korean defector who was on trial in 2015 after being forcibly repatriated to North Korea from China testified that he/she was defended by a private attorney in the trial process. According to the testifier, the attorney actively defended him/her and sought forgiveness, emphasizing that the testifier went to China because he/she was deceived, and the testifier received a lesser sentence than what the prosecutor had proposed.224 A North Korean defector who was caught illegally crossing the border in July 2016 said that he/she was able to avoid correctional labor punishment because he/she came from a good family background (todae) and did some “business (saeop).” According to the testifier, his/her counsel made an argument that the testifier had been devoted to
Ibid.
NKHR2019000043 2019-07-01.
society and community and presented a certificate of state assistance to the judge as evidence, all of which worked in favor of the testifier.225 Some attorneys have a high success rate, and there are cases in which the defense contributes to a defendant’s acquittal.226
However, other testimonies have stated that, in general, even when defense counsels are present during the trial process, they do not provide assistance or actually defend the accused. A North Korean defector who went through a trial in Samjiyeon, Yanggang Province in 2015 testified that the counsel and prosecutor together had hired a false witness.227 The testifier said that in North Korea, defense counsels work in favor of the state, not defendants. In March 2018, two brothers were accused of murder and the younger brother was caught and sentenced to five years of correctional labor punishment while the older brother ran away to China; it was testified that during the younger brother’s trial, the lawyer did not do much to reduce the sentence the defendant was to receive.228
Perfunctory operation of the right to be assisted by an attorney is also apparent in the case of public trials. That is, even if a defense counsel attends a public trial, in most cases, he/she would
NKHR2017000125 2017-11-20.
NKHR2020000032 2020-08-04.
NKHR2017000005 2017-04-10.
NKHR2018000107 2018-10-01.
not actively plead for the accused.229 According to the North Korean Criminal Procedure Law, the duty of a defense counsel is to “ensure that criminal cases are handled accurately and the rights of a preliminary examinee or a person accused of a crime are guaranteed according to law” (Article 59). In addition, the Lawyer’s Law of 1993 stipulates the rights and duties of defense counsels, stating that “when a lawyer serves as a defense counsel in a criminal case at the request of a preliminary examinee or a person accused of a crime or as commissioned by a court, he/she shall disclose the facts of the case accurately, help judges conduct an accurate analysis and render a fair judgment, and guarantee the rights and interests of the preliminary examinee or the person accused of a crime” (Article 12). However, North Korean lawyers are mandated to uphold and carry out the policy of the state or the WPK, rather than protect the rights and interests of individuals. In other words, the role of a lawyer has more to do with persuading or inducing the accused to admit their crimes, rather than defending them.
To receive assistance from a defense counsel, the right of access to a defense counsel must be guaranteed. The North Korean Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that “the selected defense counsel may meet and speak with a preliminary examinee
NKHR2018000014 2018-04-09; NKHR2018000095 2018-08-27; NKHR2019000020 2019-05-07; NKHR2019000097 2019-10-21.
or a person accused of a crime” and “a preliminary examination officer, judge or court shall allow the defense counsel and the preliminary examinee or the person accused of a crime to meet each other upon request” (Article 69). Moreover, the North Korean Lawyer’s Law states that a defense counsel is entitled to converse or correspond with a preliminary examinee or a person accused of a crime (Article 9, paragraph 1). It has been found that the right to access a defense counsel is implemented in some cases, but only in a perfunctory manner. A North Korean defector who had been detained in an MPS branch detention center (guryujang) in South Pyeongan Province from September 2016 to February 2017 testified that an MPS officer told him/her to meet the defense counsel during the preliminary examination, but threatened “I will kill you if you do anything foolish.”230 The testifier met with the defense counsel 10 days before the trial, and the counsel confirmed with the testifier that the testifier had been beaten and had not been fed well while detained in the center.
According to the testifier, upon hearing what had happened, the defense counsel asked the testifier to pay bribes through his/her family, saying that he would reduce the sentence by presenting such facts to the court. The testifier said that when he/she told the defense counsel that he/she could not afford to offer bribes, the counsel sided with the prosecutor during the trial.
NKHR2017000096 2017-10-23.