The universal value of human rights prohibits torture and inhuman treatment in order to protect the dignity and the physical and mental integrity of every human being. This chapter will examine the major issues related to the situation in North Korea regarding the right not to be tortured or receive inhuman treatment.
A. Torture and Inhuman Treatment in the Handling
(2016). Article 242 of the Criminal Law stipulates that “law enforcement personnel who conducts interrogations in an unlawful manner or exaggerates or fabricates a case shall be subject to up to one year of labor training punishment.” It further provides that if such personnel conspire with another person to carry out the said actions or cause someone to die, sustain serious injury or be falsely accused of a crime by carrying out the said actions, they shall be subject to up to five years of correctional labor punishment. When the case is serious, such personnel shall be subject to five years or more and up to ten years of correctional labor punishment. Article 6 of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that “the state shall strictly guarantee human rights in the handling of criminal cases,” and Article 37 of the same law states that “the testimony of a preliminary examinee or the accused obtained through force and inducement cannot be used as evidence.” Article 166 of the Criminal Procedure Law provides that “preliminary examination officers shall not forcibly make the preliminary examinee admit their guilt or induce statements.”
Moreover, Article 225 stipulates that witnesses are protected from threats or coercion during interrogation. In addition, in its national report submitted for the third cycle of the UPR in 2019, North Korea stated that it protects human rights in the process of handling criminal cases while consistently upholding the principle that scientific accuracy, objectivity and impartiality must be ensured.38
Despite these regulations in the North Korean Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law, torture and inhuman treatment frequently occur in the actual process of handling criminal cases, and the use of torture is prevalent as it is established as one of the investigation methods for obtaining confessions from suspects during interrogation.39 Testimonies claiming that cruel treatment takes place in detention facilities under the Ministry of State Security have been collected (<Table Ⅱ-8>). Testimonies about beatings and cruel treatment in prison camps (kyohwaso), labor training camps (rodongdanryundae), holding centers (jipkyulso) and detention centers (guryujang) under the Ministry of Social Security have also been collected.40 Taking these testimonies into consideration, it appears that beatings and cruel treatment have not yet been eradicated in all of the facilities under the Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of Social Security.
On the other hand, there have been recent testimonies in which the testifiers had not experienced beatings while detained in a detention facility and that beating is prohibited in the Prosecutors’
Offices and the Prosecutors’ Offices monitor the situation of human rights violations in MPS branches.41 A North Korean
UN Doc. A/HRC/WG.6/33/PRK/1 (2019), para. 27.
Dong-ho Han et al., Torture and Inhuman Treatment in North Korea (Seoul: KINU, 2016), p. 8.
NKHR2020000020 2020-07-04.
NKHR2020000024 2020-07-06; NKHR2020000032 2020-08-04.
defector who had been detained in an MSS detention center (guryujang) in Hyesan, Yanggang Province, in May 2017, testified that he/she did not experience cruel treatment because North Korea was hit hard by accusations of human rights violations at the time.42
TableⅡ-8 Cases of Torture and Inhuman Treatment in the Process of Handling Criminal Cases
Testimonies Testifier ID
A North Korean defector was investigated by the MSS county branch in Onsong County, North Hamgyeong Province, for human trafficking in February 2015 and was frequently beaten in the investigation process. The defector testified that there were also people whose bodies were bruised and flesh was decayed when they left since they were beaten with a club.
NKHR2018000074 2018-07-30
A North Korean defector was investigated by the MSS city branch in Hyesan, Yanggang Province for 15 days for the illegal use of a mobile phone in October 2015. Four MSS agents beat him/her frequently with their fists and feet.
NKHR2018000127 2018-11-19 A North Korean defector was investigated for eight days in
May 2016 at an MSS holding center (jipkyulso) in Samjiyeon, Yanggang Province. The defector was bruised all over his/her body after being beaten up for not admitting the fact that he/she attempted to go to South Korea. The beating was even worse for his/her father as he lost all his teeth, and the blood vessels in his eyes burst.
NKHR2018000129 2018-11-19
A North Korean defector was investigated by the MSS county branch in Onsong County, North Hamgyeong Province for 15 days in September 2016 and was beaten by the MSS agents until he/she made a full confession and acknowledged his/her deeds. The defector was investigated while he/she was shackled to a chair and when he/she refused to testify, the MSS agents kicked the chair so that he/she fell while tied to the chair.
NKHR2018000109 2018-10-06
NKHR2020000027 2020-07-06.
Testimonies Testifier ID A North Korean defector was caught while attempting to
defect in 2018 and was detained in a holding center (jipkyulso) and a detention center (guryujang) for about four and a half months in early 2019. He/she was beaten during the investigation process for not making a confession and was forced to remain in a fixed posture.
NKHR2020000020 2020-07-04
A testifier who had worked at a detention facility for approximately four and a half months from April 2019, said that a person confined in a detention facility before trial is considered “a person whose sentence is pending” and thus treated as a prisoner, to whom cruel treatment, such as forcing of fixed posture, is given.
NKHR2020000035 2020-09-05