Human Rights in North Korea
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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. This decision means that North Korea has abandoned the social security system and the guarantees of subsistence, which it used to publicize in connection with human rights. It also is evidence that North Korea's concept of human rights sustained a significant setback. The second change was that North Korea began to show active responses to various human rights regimes of the international community. For example, North Korea submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee (or HRC) an implementation report on International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on time in August 2002. In July 2001, the UN Human Rights Committee released its concluding observations on North Korea's Second Report on Covenant-B, which North Korea had submitted in March of 2000 after a 16-year delay, and recommended Pyongyang to submit an implementation report on its observations within a year. For its part, North Korea fulfilled this obligation on time. It appears that North Korea tried to utilize its human rights report as a vehicle to illustrate the point that it was taking various legal and institutional measures to guarantee human rights for its people. However, apart from the promptness of its responses to the procedural demands of the UN human rights regimes, there was little indication in 2002 to suggest that human rights of the North Korean inhabitants have improved in reality. North Korea has indeed submitted a regular report to the UN HRC, indicating its compliance with the international covenants on human rights, but the report was full of self-centered justifications for various human rights laws, systems and related matters. Furthermore, through its Party newspaper, Rodong Shinmun, North Korea complained that the international community was taking issue with human rights in North Korea, which amounted to a breach of its sovereignty and intervention in domestic affairs. North Korea denies universality as a basis of human rights. It insists, "we have proper, our-style human rights standards." It claims, "in accordance with our-style concept, human rights are highly respected under the North Korean-style socialist system, which is voluntarily supported by the people." It further insists, "every citizen not only fully enjoys true political freedom and rights, but also receives full guarantees for economic, social and cultural life." This White Paper aims to present objective evidence on human rights situation in North Korea in light of increasing concerns of the international community over the situation and in view of North Korea's highly defensive posture. In an attempt to maintain the objectivity of the human rights concept, this White Paper has adopted the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (or Covenant-A) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (or Covenant-B) as the framework of analysis. Chapter II applies various articles of Covenant-A as standards and Chapter III relies on Covenant-B as criteria of analysis. Chapter IV deals with various issues that draw intense concerns of the international community such as political concentration camps and the defectors. In the past, our discussions on human rights in North Korea focused on violations of political and civil rights in connection with the Covenant-B criteria. Since the food crisis, however, the problem area seems to have shifted to the Covenant-A provisions, with which North Korea used to argue it was complying fully. Today, the reality is that starvation persists as the grain shortage exacerbated. Except for Pyongyang, the inhabitants in the provinces are forced to skip meals routinely, let alone social security benefits such as medical treatment. At the same time, violations of Covenant-B are becoming more serious and widespread as the foundation for livelihood collapsed and as political repressions are reinforced by the riot-fearing North Korean authorities. Primary materials we used for our analysis of human rights situation in North Korea include the testimonies of North Korean defectors and the observations and testimonies of various experienced visitors to North Korea from international organizations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). As a matter of fact, we found little difference in the observations of the two groups of people and their testimonies were consistently in agreement. We have tried to maintain the objectivity of our materials and analyses throughout this White Paper. However, as the UN Human Rights Committee itself admitted, we must also admit that there was a limit in accessing the sources of information on human rights in North Korea. This paper, then, is a product of comprehensive analyses of available materials and information even as North Korea restricted access to the sources of information on human rights. It is hoped that this report will serve to raise the levels of concern for our fellow citizens, and draw more serious attention from the international community over the human rights situation in North Korea. Seo Byung-chul, Ph.D President, Korea Institute for National Unification May 2003 Contents Preface Ⅰ. Human Rights and the North Korean Socialist System ···········1 1. Factors Affecting the Human Rights Situation in North Korea ·············· 1 2. North Korea's Perceptions and Policies of Human Rights···················· 11 3. The Duality of North Korea's Human Rights Policies·························· 16 Ⅱ. The Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Situation ··············19 1. The Right to Subsistence········································································ 21 2. Social Security Rights ·············································································· 40 3. The Right to Work················································································· 50 4. The Freedom to Choose Jobs································································· 54 5. The Right to Education·········································································· 58 Ⅲ. Civil and Political Rights Situation ···············································67 1. The Right to Life···················································································· 67 2. Freedom of Individual Liberty······························································· 84 3. The Right to Protection under Due Process·········································· 99 4. Right to Equality··················································································· 107 5. Civil Liberties························································································ 126 6. The Right of Political Participation ······················································· 162 7. The Status of Women··········································································· 165 Ⅳ. Other Human Rights Violations ···················································177 1. Human Rights Violations at Political Detention Camps ······················ 177 2. The Abducted························································································ 199 3. Human Rights Violations against North Koreans Abroad··················· 203 • Appendix Ⅰ ·····················································································219 • Tables <Table 3-1> Crimes Subject to Capital Punishment····································· 70 <Table 3-2> Confinement Facilities ······························································· 92 <Table 3-3> Crimes subject to detention in rehabilitation centers ··············· 93 <Table 3-4> Family Background Investigation Projects ······························ 110 <Table 3-5> The 3 Classes and 51 Sub-classes ···········································