White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea 2003 Suh Jae Jean, Senior Research Fellow Choi Eui-Chul, Senior Research Fellow Lee Woo-Young, Senior Research Fellow Lee Keum-Soon, Senior Research Fellow Lim Soon-Hee, Research Fellow Kim Su-Am, Senior Research Associate Korea Institute for National Unification The analyses, comments and other opinions contained in this White Paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Korea Institute for National Unification. White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea Published by the Center for North Korean Social and Human Rights Studies, Korea Institute for National Unification(KINU), Seoul, Korea, as annual series of reports exposing current knowledge about the human rights situation in North Korea. Correspondence may be sent to: Suh Jae Jean, Editor-in-Chief SL Tobong P.O. Box 22, Seoul, 142-600, Korea Tel:(82-2)901-2580 Fax:(82-2)901-2546 E-mail:
[email protected] ISBN 89-8479-187-3 US $ 10 Copyrightⓒ2003 by Korea Institute for National Unification, Seoul, Korea. All rights reserved. No portion of the contents may be reproduced in any form without written permission from publisher. Typeset and printed by Kyung Hee, Seoul, Korea. Tel: (82-2)2263-7534 Preface In the year 2002 there were two meaningful changes in North Korea in connection with the human rights situation. The first was the July Economic Management Improvement Measures, abolishing the central ration system that used to provide the inhabitants with daily necessities for free or at a low cost. North Korea sought to minimize or remove the benefits under the social security system by abolishing the state-run ration system, which used to provide the people with free, consumable commodities, and to force them to purchase daily necessities at market prices with income from their work.