 The European Parliament co-hosted a symposium on ways to improve North Korean human rights on July 13 with South Korea’s National Human Rights Commission. Amid the growing interest in this humanitarian issue, the Korea Institute for National Unification released the “2011 White Paper on North Korean Human Rights.” The state-run institute studies and analyzes unification-related issues to assist the government in formulating unification policies. In 1994, the Center for North Korean Human Rights was set up under the institute, which has published the white paper on North Korean human rights annually since 1996. Lee Gyu-chang, researcher at the institute’s Center for North Korean Human Rights, assesses the human rights conditions in North Korea as follows.
We interview North Korean defectors as soon as they arrive in South Korea and try to analyze the human rights conditions in the North objectively. It is important to let the public learn about the North Korean situation. With this in mind, we’ve issued the white paper on North Korean human rights every year. Human rights can be viewed in two major aspects—the right to freedom and the rights to economic, social and cultural matters. It seems the right to freedom in North Korea has weakened, as the nation has strengthened control over its people in the course of a power transition to heir-apparent Kim Jong-un. As for economic, social and cultural rights, the economic difficulties and the food shortages have worsened in North Korea since its failed currency reform in 2009. On the whole, the human rights situation is exacerbating in the North.
This year’s white paper notes that public executions have increased in North Korea since 2007. According to testimonies of North Korean defectors here, public executions had been on the decline since 2000 but began to increase again in 2007. It is estimated that more than 52 people were killed in a public execution between the late 2009, when North Korea carried out a currency reform, and 2010. Why have cases of public executions increased since 2007?
In North Korea, public executions take place when punishing those who resist the communist regime, deliver outside information and engage in drug trafficking or social irregularities such as human trafficking and murder. North Korea enacted supplementary provisions of the criminal law in 2007 to expand the range of crime subject to a death sentence. In April 2009, the North revised the criminal law to add political crimes to the list of death penalty infractions. Kim Jong-un made his official debut as heir-apparent in September 2010. Since then, North Korea has been tightening internal control in a bid to stabilize the power transfer scheme. In that process, executions have been held in public to serve as an example to others.
North Korea is also imposing stricter punishment on the so-called anti-national crime. That is, the North is seeking to solidify the base for a third-generation power succession by reinforcing control over political crime. Recent testimonies from North Korean defectors indicate that people are sent to concentration camps for attempting to escape the country or circulating South Korean video recordings. In North Korea, there are reportedly six concentration camps where 150-thosuand to 200-thousand political prisoners and their family members are suffering inhumane treatment. Notably, it is said that discrimination in college enrollment and employment has eased somewhat in North Korea. Mr. Lee explains why.
North Korean people are classified into three different classes—the core class, the unstable class and the hostile class. In accordance with their respective backgrounds or classes, people are subject to discrimination in regards to party membership, promotion, military enlistment, college enrollment and marriage. Interviews with North Korean defectors last year found that this type of discrimination is still rampant in the North. However, it is also assumed that discrimination in college enrollment or post assignment and promotion in workplaces has been eased. That is not because discrimination was abolished or people are treated equally but because economic opportunities and bribes are becoming more important in North Korean society. Many North Korean refugees here testify that money can solve everything in North Korea.
International humanitarian aid for North Korea has been reduced since North Korea’s nuclear tests—the first one in 2006 and the second one in 2009. As a result, the communist state has suffered from chronic economic difficulties, not even guaranteeing its citizens the basic right to live. To tighten its grip on the market and secure financial funds, North Korea enacted currency reform in 2009. But the currency revaluation did not work out as the nation had expected. Experts speculate that the failed reform has only aggravated the human rights situation in North Korea.
According to testimonies of North Korean newcomers who have arrived in South Korea recently, the chronic food shortages continued in North Korea last year. The North endured severe famine in the mid-1990s, which is dubbed the “arduous march” period. Some defectors say that after the currency reform, food shortages became even worse. Some also say even rations for mine workers have been suspended since the 2009 currency reform. More defectors testify that they have seen people starving to death or heard about those who died of hunger since the botched reform. I think the food situation is pretty serious in North Korea.
In addition, it is said that middle school students in North Korea take drugs or engage in drug peddling, while many women and children are vulnerable to serious human rights abuses, including sexual violence and human trafficking. But Mr. Lee points out some positive developments regarding human rights in North Korea.
In some criminal trials, North Korea observes rules concerning investigative agencies and preliminary proceedings, as stipulated in the nation’s criminal law. There are a number of testimonies that some defendants were fortunate enough to have the assistance of lawyers during their trial, though the number is small. It is also said that court appeals were accepted in some cases. Of course, we must not jump to conclusions that the level of North Korea’s legal system has been raised. But those cases show that the public concept of obeying the law has improved to some extent. This also reflects North Korean authorities partly accepted international calls for improving human rights.
The U.N. General Assembly has adopted a resolution on North Korean human rights every year, and Amnesty International has annually released reports on human rights records in different countries. Mr. Lee stresses that the international community should continue to bring up this issue.
For an improvement in human rights conditions in North Korea, it is necessary for the outside world to continue to raise the issue of North Korea’s human rights infringement and criticize it. To ensure North Koreans’ right to live, it’s also necessary to continue to provide humanitarian aid to vulnerable groups, including infants and children.
As seen in the white paper, North Korea’s human rights violations are getting more serious. The North should heed international calls for improving the situation and implement practical measures to respect the individual dignity of its citizens in order to become a responsible member of the international community.
[Interview] Female Police Officer Committed to Helping Defectors
A wedding ceremony is taking place in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province. The bride is a defector from North Korea. It looks like an ordinary wedding, but a special person is sitting on the chair dedicated to the bride’s mother. The lady, dressed in beautiful hanbok, the Korean traditional attire, is Cho Gyeong-suk, the police lieutenant of the Security Department at Gwanak Police Station in Seoul. It turns out that the bride, who had left her parents behind in North Korea, asked Ms. Cho to serve in the role of the mother during her wedding. In fact, the bride has always trusted and loved the police officer as if she were her own mother. It’s been nine years since Cho began to take care of North Korean defectors just like their mothers would.
In 2002, a female North Korean defector whom I was acquainted with was planning on marrying a businessman here in South Korea. When I asked her if there was anything I could do for her, she asked me if I would sit on the chair for her mother during the wedding because she had no parents. I was 40 at the time. I wasn’t old enough to play the role of her mother, but I was eager to do anything for her. We went around the Dongdaemun traditional market together to purchase various things needed for her marriage, like bedclothes, dishes and items for her honeymoon. I attended her wedding, of course, lighting candles, taking family pictures and treating the guests, as if I were her real mother. That was how I started acting like a mother for defectors from North Korea. I’m willing to help the newcomers if they ever need my help.
Upon arriving in South Korea, North Korean defectors receive rehabilitation training at Hanawon, a resettlement center for newcomers from the North. After completing the training program, they live under police protection. Cho is in charge of such defectors living in the district under the jurisdiction of her police station. In addition to taking care of women defectors like a mother would, she listens to their problems, such as securing education for their children and employment, and helps them resolve their difficulties. Her affection and dedication earned her the nickname, “the godmother of women defectors.” Cho introduces herself as a “rich” police officer who has a number of North Korean daughters, sisters and nieces.
At first, I simply thought that it was my duty to take care of them. But I found myself showing more interest in them and willing to help them out. For the defectors, getting help remains as a precious memory to cherish for the rest of their lives. I was determined to do whatever I could do for the newcomers as a police officer. You know what? I have many, many family members. I know some 200 North Korean women. I’m rich, don’t you think? II have many sisters and daughters.
Cho began to serve as a police officer 20 years ago. She was preparing to become an elementary school teacher at the time. On the recommendation of her acquaintance, she took the exam for police officers and passed it in her first attempt, coming through a fierce competition of 89 to 1. There were few female police officers back then, and she became the talk of the town as the first traffic policewoman to make signals at the Gwanghwamun Square in downtown Seoul. Later, she engaged investigation work and has provided protection service for North Korean defectors since 1997. Cho says the defector issue has evolved significantly over the last 14 years.
When I first came to work in this field, most North Korean defectors fled from their home country to escape hunger. These days, a growing number of women, children and teenagers are coming to South Korea. Some defect to South Korea to find their family members who have already resettled here. Nowadays, defectors are more interested in the education of their children. That is, more and more defectors are searching for a better life, not simply for food. I hope South Korean citizens won’t look at the newcomers differently and will treat them as our ordinary neighbors.
In addition to helping women defectors, Cho has also helped out with living expenses for defector families on traditional holidays since 2009 with assistance from a local organization. She also helps North Korean expatriates receive vocational training for free by introducing them to vocational schools in the district they reside in. Also, she helps the defectors in the Gwanak district receive free medical checkups and reduce their medical expenses through an agreement with hospitals within the district. Cho has been the pillar of hope for many North Korean newcomers. Here’s hoping her love and dedication will continue to encourage many more new settlers from the North. |
in
the NK
