The North Korean authorities continue to impose systematic and widespread human rights violations on North Korean citizens. President of the Korean Institute for National Unification, November 2010 White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea.
Human Rights and the Characteristics of
Human rights abuses by the authorities have now become an everyday issue in North Korea. The "food crisis" in North Korea that began in the 1990s has not seen any significant improvement.
Human Rights and the Characteristics of the North Korean System
Human Rights Violations by the Totalitarian Dictatorship
The deplorable human rights situation in North Korea is closely related to the unique features of its political system. As part of the constitutional revision, North Korea added "military-first ideology" as a ruling ideology along with Juche ideology.
Human Rights Abuses Due to Economic Hardship
North Korea's central distribution system (ration or public distribution system) was closely linked to government policies to control popular movement and economic activity. The dollar earnings of these workers will also contribute to North Korea's foreign exchange reserves.
Cultural Relativism and North Korea’s “Our-style”
Human Rights
North Korea’s Perception of Human Rights and National Sovereignty
North Korea uses national sovereignty as a basis of argument for rejecting international human rights standards. For example, North Korea insists, "Human rights are unthinkable without the self-confidence of our nation and people."
Increasing Pressure on North Korea
In recent years, the international community has strengthened mutual cooperation on the human rights situation in North Korea. The international community is well aware that the human rights situation in North Korea is absolutely appalling.
North Korea’s Reaction
Despite North Korea's complaints, the United States maintains the "North Korean Human Rights Act" under the Obama administration. In the April 2009 constitutional amendment, North Korea included human rights as part of the state's responsibilities.
The Reality of Civil and Political Rights
North Korean Laws on the Death Penalty
No one should be arbitrarily deprived of their life.” The article further states: “In countries that have not abolished the death penalty, a death sentence may be imposed only for the most serious crimes, in accordance with the law in force at the time the crime was committed, and not in violation of the provisions of this Convention and to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Under the Criminal Code, as revised on April 29, 2004, North Korea retained the five death penalty crimes included in the 1999 revision. North Korea's 2004 Criminal Code requires courts to impose the death penalty for crimes against the state and its people.
1_ Han In-sup, "The Contents and Meaning of Revisions of North Korea's Penal Code, 2004," The 93rd Monthly Seminar of North Korea Research Association, Dec. North Korea thus responded in a way to international criticism of the political nature of its death penalty provisions. Despite the provisions of the Penal Code, the death penalty is still stipulated in many of North Korea's instructions, proclamations and other official documents.
Public Executions
A defector testified that a man and a woman were executed by firing squad for stealing communications cables. A defector testified that in September 2008 a 50-year-old man was publicly executed by firing squad in Hweryong for drug trafficking. A deserter testified that in May 2008 XXX, a 26-year-old neighbor was publicly executed by firing squad on charges of human trafficking. 62.
A defector testified that a 21-year-old man was executed in Hyesan on charges of human trafficking.66. Many exiles have testified that public executions are still carried out for the crime of murder. Many defectors proved to be truly hardened in the 1990s, as people were publicly executed by firing squad every month.
Liberty Rights and Detention Facilities under the North Korean Penal System
In theory, the freedom of habeas corpus in North Korea is guaranteed in the Revised Socialist Constitution of September 1998. In the Criminal Procedure Law of 2004, arrest and detention procedures are set out in separate articles of the law. Before the investigation and seizure itself, the authorized representative must present himself with the authorization in the presence of two independent witnesses (Articles 218 and 221).
As a result, all illegal acts related to arrest, detention, search and seizure are now subject to punishment. According to the Revised Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Act, the rights of suspects have been clearly established in the process of arrest, detention, search and seizure. Despite these revisions to the Criminal Procedure Act, there is still the possibility of human rights violations.
Detention and Correctional Facilities
Some North Korean laws list "job training" as one of the categories of "punishment", although the penal code does not contain such provisions. Under the 2004 Revised Penal Code, North Korea introduced "labor training" as a new type of punishment. Sometimes one day of service at a correctional center counts as two days of on-the-job training.
165 of the 245 articles in the North Korean Criminal Code mention punishment through job training. The reality of civil and political rights (unemployed) would be sent to the labor training camps (the “gang countries”).132. He was held in the provincial assembly center for a month and then in a labor training camp for six months.134.
Human Rights Violations Inside Correctional Centers
According to the testimony of a defector who was detained at Jeungsan Correctional Center, all prisoners work 10 hours a day and this work schedule is strictly observed. Some defectors testified that the human rights of women in correctional centers are regularly violated. Officially, each meal was supposed to be 599 grams, but he recalled that he only got about 300 grams each time.156 Defector XXX testified that he was detained in Jeungsan Correctional Center in 2003.
He mixed them in the soup, but each meal did not amount to more than 5-6. According to Good Friends, since the mid-2000s, unruly social behavior has increased in North Korea, contributing to a rapid increase in the number of criminals, which in turn tends to overcrowd many correctional centers. The soldiers were mobilized in the expansion work and it was completed in about two months, the report states. 161.
Human Rights Violations Inside Labor Training Camps
A defector testified that labor in a labor training camp consists mainly of temporary work at various workplaces where workers are needed. A defector testified that he personally saw a 22-year-old woman starve to death at the Onsung Labor Training Camp in November 2004.176. A defector testified that he personally saw a 25-year-old man, XXX, starve to death in the labor training camp in Pohang District in 2005.177.
A defector testified that in a labor training camp where he was detained in 2005, two children died of malnutrition and disease. A defector testified that a woman died at a training camp in 2005 due to malnutrition and they disposed of her body in a goat pen in the camp.181. A defector testified that her sister's husband, XXX, was beaten to death inside a labor training camp in January 2008.182.
Human Rights Violations Inside Collection Centers
A defector testified that on October 10, 2005, four drunken inmates at the same facility beat another inmate who was from Kangwon Province. A defector testified that when she was detained at the Chongjin "Collection Center" in November 2003, she saw an agent beat a mother simply because her child was crying loudly. 196. One defector testified that when she was detained at the Chongjin Provincial Concentration Center in April 2007, she was a 22-year-old pregnant woman named XXX from Hwanghae Province.
She further testified that one of those who looked after the prisoners after abortion was currently living in South Korea.202 - Defector XXX testified this when she was in Chongjin. A defector testified she saw agents forcing pregnant women to run up a hill and drag wood downhill. A defector testified that in July 2003 she regularly visited the Chongjin Provincial Collection Center because her younger sister was detained there.
Human Rights Violations Inside Detention Points
Even in security service prisons, beatings and torture appear to be routine punishment measures. Many defectors have stated that serious incidents of human rights violations have occurred within the Onsung County security force. A defector testified that a guard beat his father so severely at the Provincial Security Agency Detention Center in Hyesan City that he lost many of his toes.234.
A defector testified that agents beat him for about two and a half hours at the Security Agency Detention Center in 2007. A defector testified that he was tortured by electric shocks when he was interrogated at the Onsung Security Agency. In September 2002, a 24-year-old woman was forced to abort a child at the Musan County Security Agency Detention Center because she was pregnant by a Chinese man.
Human Rights and Corruption
A defector testified that XXX, a 50-year-old woman living in Musan, was forced to abort a child in the hospital because she had a Chinese child. 247. A defector testified that Security Agency detention centers are mentally painful, but the treatment there is less harsh than in People's Security Agency detention centers. On the other hand, in the Security Agencies they only force you to kneel on the hard floor of a small room and tell you to write confessions etc."248.
This was because officers at every level of the security service had to receive a share of the bribes.249. Nevertheless, he/she can pay between 500,000 and one million won in bribes to avoid going to jail.252 Video watching has spread and official control over this trend is becoming increasingly strict. Many people try to avoid prison sentences by bribing officials while imprisoned. As officials tighten social controls, cases of people trying to avoid prison sentences through bribery are also increasing.
Human Rights Violations Inside Political Concentration Camps (Kwanliso)
Ahn Myung-chul (admitted 1994), who defected while working as a security guard at Hoeryong Concentration Camp; and Choi Dong-chul (admitted in 1995), who was previously a guard at the State Security Agency in the mid-1980s. The North Korean Human Rights Committee said there was a "revolutionary sector" reduced to No. . One of the seven, Kim Eun-chol, was said to be detained in the Yoduk detention camp.290.
His father was imprisoned in the political concentration camp because he wanted to return to Japan.302. There is no solid information about the current situation of the detained returnees (from Japan) in concentration camps, other than the testimonies of defectors who were themselves in the camps. According to the testimonies of Kang Chul-hwan and An Hyuk, who had been imprisoned in Yodok, about 600 such persons (about 100 families) were held in the camp for the first time in early 1974.
Human Rights and the North Korean Penal Code
The thrust of the "crimes against the state" inserted in the Penal Code in 1987 was still retained in the 2005 Penal Code. For the details of the 2005 revisions, see North Korea's Criminal Law (Seoul: Court Administration Agency, 2006), pp. Court decisions will be determined by a majority vote of the participating judge(s) and the people's juries (Art. 17) ).
In terms of organizational hierarchy, North Korean courts operate under the leadership of the Supreme People's Assembly. The North Korean Prosecutor's Office plays a role similar to that of the Constitutional Court in South Korea. One of the institutional setups prone to violating human rights is the system of "open trial on the ground".
