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North Korea: a Case to Answer

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North Korea: a Case to Answer NORTH KOREA: A CASE TO ANSWER A CALL TO ACT Copyright © Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) 2007. All rights reserved. Christian Solidarity Worldwide PO Box 99, New Malden, Surrey KT3 3YF T: 0845 456 5464 E: [email protected] www.csw.org.uk Printed in the United Kingdom. Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is a human rights organisation which specialises in religious freedom, works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and promotes religious liberty for all. Exposing human rights violations in over 30 countries, CSW raises awareness and lobbies governments and key inter-governmental bodies including the European Union and United Nations. NORTH KOREA: A CASE TO ANSWER - A CALL TO ACT The urgent need to respond to mass killings, arbitrary imprisonment, torture and related international crimes NORTH KOREA: A CASE TO ANSWER - A CALL TO ACT Acknowledgements This report is dedicated to those who continue to suffer the abuses documented herein. CSW wishes to honour the many survivors and witnesses who have courageously testified about the abuses that they suffered in order to protect others from enduring the same fate. We particularly wish to thank Kang Cheol-Hwan, Ahn Myeong-Cheol, Kim Young-Soon, Kim Tae-Jin, Lee Yeong-Guk, Lee Min-Bok, Kim Sung-Min, Kim Yong and Lee Yeon-Sun. CSW wishes to gratefully acknowledge its co-writers REDRESS, and Dr. Lutz Oette in particular, for their extensive work on the report and the legal advice and assessment that they have provided. The authors are deeply indebted to all those who provided expert advice and comment during the writing and editing process. In particular we wish to thank Professor Philo Kim, Kim Sang Hun, Professor Man Ho Heo, Professor Ilias Bantekas, Professor Gregory Stanton, Professor Andrei Lankov, Dr. Huh Moon-Young, Dr. Suh Jae-Jean, Professor Won Jae-Chun, Dr. Marcus Noland, Tim Peters, Karen Parker, Adèle Auxier and Eun Sang Hwang. CSW wishes to thank all staff involved in the report and those who have devoted considerable time to researching and editing the text, including Helen Gaw, Ji-Hye Park, Penelope Evans, Lee Shin-Hee, Eunice Benjamin, Sandra Fahy and Helen Birkbeck. CSW gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the funders of this project, including Freedom House. The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the expert advisors or funders. 2 NORTH KOREA: A CASE TO ANSWER - A CALL TO ACT Regrettably, it is the ordinary people of the Democratic ‘‘People’s Republic of Korea who suffer at the hands of the‘‘ authorities and who bear the brunt of the myriad of abuses, which are both systematic and pervasive.1 Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea If international justice is alive and if a global conscience ‘‘ exists, then we can no longer turn a blind eye to the devastation in North Korea. Not only in the prison camps but all throughout North Korea people are suffering through torture, public execution, and deaths caused by mass starvation. My parents, siblings and friends, together with the majority of the people living in North Korea today, are all hoping for the international community‘‘ to release them from the tyranny and starvation being suffered under the North Korean regime. Kang Cheol-Hwan Former child prisoner at Yodeok Political Prison Camp 1 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, submitted to the UN Human Rights Council, UN Doc. A/HRC/4/15, 7 February 2007, para. 70. 3 NORTH KOREA: A CASE TO ANSWER - A CALL TO ACT CONTENTS Note on Translations and Romanisation 6 Witness Profiles 7 Executive Summary 8 1. Introduction 11 2. Gathering Momentum: Evidence and Action 13 3. Political and Legal Background 16 4. Context of Political Repression in North Korea 19 4.1 Ideological context of repression 19 4.2 Political repression and human rights violations in North Korea 20 4.3 Famine 21 4.4 Consequences of crossing the North Korean border 23 5. The North Korean Detention and Imprisonment System and the Nature of International Crimes Committed in this Context 24 5.1 Locations and size of the political prison camps 26 5.2 The camps as death camps 28 5.3 Numbers of deaths in the political prison camps 28 5.4 The system of repression in imprisonment and detention facilities as genocide and crimes against humanity 30 6. International Criminal Law and North Korea 32 7. Crimes Against Humanity and North Korea 33 7.1 Crimes against humanity under international criminal law 33 7.2 Evidence for widespread and systematic attacks against the civilian population in North Korea 34 8. Crimes Against Humanity 36 A. Murder 36 B. Extermination 42 C. Enslavement 43 D. Forcible transfer 45 E. Arbitrary imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty 47 F. Torture 48 G. Rape and sexual violence 51 H. Persecution 52 I. Enforced disappearance of persons 55 J. Other inhumane acts 59 4 NORTH KOREA: A CASE TO ANSWER - A CALL TO ACT 9. Genocide 61 10. Individual Criminal Responsibility 68 10.1 Political leaders 68 10.1.1 Giving orders or inducing a crime 69 10.1.2 Joint criminal enterprise 69 10.1.3 Command or superior responsibility 70 10.2 Heads of agencies, camp directors and others 72 10.3 Direct perpetrators 72 11. The Responsibility of States and the United Nations to Respond to International Crimes in North Korea 73 11.1 Responsibility to take action in the face of international crimes 73 11.2 Responding to international crimes in North Korea: the case for an international commission of inquiry 75 11.2.1 The need for an international commission of inquiry 75 11.2.2 Mandate for an international commission of inquiry 76 11.2.3 Accountability mechanisms that could follow a commission of inquiry 78 11.3 International responses to date and recommended further action 81 11.3.1 Human rights bodies 81 11.3.2 The UN General Assembly 84 11.3.3 The UN Security Council 85 12. Looking Ahead: Domestic Justice and Accountability 90 13. Conclusions 91 14. Recommendations 92 Annex 1: Key UN Documents on North Korea 96 Annex 2: The Political Structure in North Korea 98 Annex 3: Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: Selected Articles 99 Annex 4: ICC Elements of Crimes 105 Annex 5: UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/61/174 112 5 NORTH KOREA: A CASE TO ANSWER - A CALL TO ACT Note on Translations and Romanisation The English translations of Korean terms used in this report have been chosen after careful consideration of the existing translations of each term and also the authentic Korean meaning. There are inconsistencies in the existing literature regarding Korean terms due to the difficulty of translating the terms precisely while simultaneously conveying the meaning in an accurate manner to an English-speaking audience. Furthermore, the terms used by the North Korean regime can be misleading. Some of the existing translations have opted for more descriptive translations. The terminology chosen for this report has sought to keep as close to the authentic Korean as possible. However, where that translation could be deemed misleading, a more descriptive term has been used. Inconsistencies also lie in the romanisation of the Korean words. This report uses the guidelines outlined by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in July 2000.2 However, where this report uses names of people and places that are already well-known and widely published, such as Kim Jong-Il, Kim Il-Sung and Pyongyang, and common family surnames such as Kim, Kang and Lee, the transliterations have been maintained in order to avoid confusion. Glossary Korean Korean romanisation English translation 집결소 Jipkyeol-so Detention centre 노동단련대 Rodong-dallyeon-dae Forced labour facility 교화소 Kyohwa-so Re-education prison 관리소 Kwanlli-so Political prison camp 혁명화대상구역 Hyeokmyeonghwadaesang-guyeok Revolutionising re-education zone 특별독재대상구역 Teukbyeoldokjaedaesang-guyeok Absolute control zone 국가안전보위부 Gukga-anjeon-bowi-bu State Security Protection Agency 최고인민회의 Choe-go-inmin-hoe-ui Supreme People’s Assembly 국방위원회 Gukbang-wiwon-hoe National Defence Commission 2 Ministry of Culture and Tourism, The Revised Romanization of Korean; available on their website. Please see www.mct.go.kr/english/roman/roman.jsp#04 for more information. 6 NORTH KOREA: A CASE TO ANSWER - A CALL TO ACT Witness Profiles The following are profiles of North Koreans quoted in the report who can be safely referenced. A number of witnesses’ profiles are omitted for protection of the individual and their family. Where a pseudonym has been used, this is indicated by the symbol † after the name. Ahn Myeong-Cheol was a former guard at political prison camps No. 11, 13, 22 and 26 between 1987 and 1994. He defected from duty in September 1994 and arrived in Seoul in October 1994. Hwang Jang-Yop was the Secretary of the Korean Workers’ Party, the architect of Juche ideology and a confidant of Kim Il-Sung. He defected to South Korea in April 1997. He is now President of the North Korean Democratization Alliance. Kang Cheol-Hwan was taken, with his family, to Yodeok Political Prison Camp in 1977 when he was nine years old after his grandfather was accused of a political crime. He was released ten years later. He arrived in South Korea in 1992. He is co-founder of NKGULAG and works as a journalist at the Chosun Ilbo. Kim Bok-Sun† escaped to China for the first time in the late 1990s.
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