HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN NORTH KOREA

HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN NORTH KOREA

Abstract

This research aims at evaluating the level and nature of human rights abuses in North Korea. North Korea has a repressive regime that promotes activities that deny citizens their fundamental human rights. The socialist constitution of North Korea commits the government to respect and protect human rights. However, the regime is blamed for its poor record on protecting and promoting individuals’ rights and freedoms. A Human Rights Watch report describes North Korea’s state of human rights abuse as the “world’s most repressive” country. The leader of the regime, Chairman Kim, exercises total political control in a state that is characterized by absolute restrictions of all civil and political liberties.

Introduction and Background of the Issue at Hand

Human rights refer to the liberties granted to all people regardless of their sex, ethnicity, race, or any other status in society. They include the rights to life, freedom from slavery, and freedom of opinion and expression. The international human rights law lays the guideline and obligations for the government to act or refrain from certain activities to promote and protect human rights. The United National and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) offer the global guideline to encompass specific standards and policies for various groups of people, including children, women, people with disabilities, and vulnerable groups. However, human rights abuses occur when a government or administrative agency acts contrary to the recommendation of the UDHR.

The research would adopt a descriptive approach to identify and explores issues of various documents from government and supranational organizations to determine the human rights abuses in North Korea. The basis of understanding the regime is the study of official documents and reports by those multinational entities, including the human rights watch and the United UN human rights commission (UNHRC). Human rights is a broader field and encompass various aspects of human freedoms and liberties. Besides, the theoretical framework proposed to guide in answering the research question assumes that human rights are universal and not culturally specific.

The human rights debate has an adverse implication on the political and social dimensions of life. The world recognized the need for developing global human rights standards following the Second World War violations. The universality of human rights is expressed by the ratification of global declarations against human rights abuse. Some of these include the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) with 169 parties and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) with 173 members. North Korea is a signatory of both accords, which binds the state to the commitment to observe and safeguard basic human rights. However, North Korea made attempts to withdraw from ICCPR in 1981, a move that was blocked by the United Nations.

Literature Review

North Korea is a highly centralized single-party state with the Workers Party of Korea, the only political organization. The socialist regime dominates and controls every aspect of the citizens’ daily endeavors. North Korea is an absolute monarchy with the current leader, Kim Jong-Un, being the third in the hereditary system. The North Korea government have restrictions and conduct scrutiny over the movement of foreigners. Citizens of North Korea do not have the right to free movement from the country. Most of the reports on the human rights situation in the country draw evidence from defectors (Woong Lee 2007). Besides, international organizations like the UN mandate on human rights conduct periodic evaluation of the human rights developments around the world.

Ulferts and Howard (2017) evaluate the influence of foreign governments in promoting and protecting the human rights of North Koreans. The US enacted the North Koran Human Rights Act (2004) and North Korean Human Rights Act (2016). Still, South Korean encompasses some of those legislations and initiatives. The authors conclude that those initiatives have failed to promote the observation of human rights in the country. Likewise, it highlights an attempt by the UN to mobile for accountability, but no substantive achievements have occurred at the local level. North Korea continues to face isolation from the globalized society. Therefore, the North Korean case necessitates the need for reorganizing the approach in Korea to achieving universal human rights.

Human Rights Abuses

North Korea has a terrible record of human rights violations. Despite the regime’s isolationist attitude, few defectors and exposé from journalists highlight terrible abuses. The UN found that citizens experience prevalent and gross human rights violations. This demonstrates that the government fails to live up to its constitution by failing to protect, promote, and preserve human rights. These violations fall into different categories to be discussed in the section that follows.

Totalitarian dictatorship

The country is officially called the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPR). The Kim family has ruled DPR for three generations with total control over citizens. The regime requires all people to show complete devotion and loyalty to the family and its leader. The government strictly controls all aspects of social, political, and economic life. DPR has an extensive of spies and surveillance system that helps to augment power. The economy is strictly controlled by the government, and most of the revenues channeled towards the nuclear and missile programs. However, the government channels its resources to such programs, yet her citizens have a shortage of basic amenities. Asia director of Human Rights Watch expressed these concerns to BBC, observing that DPR manage to undertake such expensive projects because of totalitarian control (“North Korea’s Sidelined Human Rights Crisis” 2019, para. 6). North Koreans have no right to self-government because the power belongs to the people.

Moreover, the government bans North Korean from leaving the country. DPR has introduced measures to tighten the surveillance system and discourage defections. It is practically impossible to defect using the Demilitarized Zone. Therefore, most defectors use the Chinese border to escape from the country. Therefore, North Korea authorities have tightened border activities, including jamming Chinese radio and arresting individuals communicating with an individual outside the country (UNHCR 2019). Defection is equated to treason and is punishable by death.

Press control

DPR’s regime implements one of the toughest media control policies in the world. One of the core pillars of UDHR is the freedom of the press and media. North Korea uses the media as a tool of ideological control and promotes the socialist agenda. Citizens consume their new, entertainment, and other information from the state-owned media. Unfortunately, the media only showers praise for the current leader, and people are prohibited from reading, listening, or viewing international media content. It is an offense punishable by prison. Besides, the government restricts the use of the internet, which is limited to a few elite people in Pyongyang. The country uses a closed intranet to allow certain individuals access to the network (UNHCR 2019). Lack of media freedom denies the citizens the right to make informed decisions regarding governance and other essential crucial aspects of livelihood.

All people in the world have a right to proclaim and practice a religion of their choice. However, the situation is different in North Korea because they are influenced to worship Kim. The Socialist Constitution grants the right to practice a certain faith, and there are different religions, including Buddhism, Shamanism, and Chondosim. There are state-controlled churches in DPR. In 2014, a report by the UN found that Cristian faces persecution in North Korea. A south-Korean Cristian missionary was sentenced to jail for what the authorities termed as anti-government crimes (Human Rights Watch 2019).

Detention and prison conditions

The totalitarian regime in North Korea holds a grip over power through a combination of factors, including intimidation and detention. Prisons in DPR have a harsh and threatening condition. Detainees are subjected to torture and inhumane treatment by prison authorities. People are arrested for all kinds of reasons ranging from activism, watching foreign content, or attempting to defect to other countries. DPR’s regime plans secret public executions on those who attempt to escape, including children. Those convicted are sent to one of the many prison-labor camps around the world to work in various areas, including mining and agriculture. The authority also practices collective punishment where an entire family is punished for a crime committed by one of its members (Ulferts and Howard 2017)r. Former prisoners give testimonies that exemplify the level of human rights abuses in North Korean prisons.

Forced labor

DPR government uses forced labor from citizens to run and sustain the economy. Most, if not all, North Korean must work at some point in their life for the regime unpaid. Normal citizens do not freely choose the type of job they want. Instead, the government assigns them duties to unmarried teenagers and youth in the city and rural areas. Failure to appear for one’s assigned duty is a crime punishable by up to six months in a labor prison camp. The human rights watch observers that “Some sources reported that their schools forced students aged between 10 and 16 to work every day to generate funds to pay teachers and school administrators, maintain school facilities, and carry out government campaigns” (Human Rights Watch 2019, para. 14). Besides, the government compels other citizens to participate in a paramilitary forced labor brigade in charge of infrastructure development in the country. These North Koreans are forced to work in deplorable conditions, sometimes in winter and without proper clothing (Ulferts and Howard 2017). The regime also sent workers to foreign nations and are forced to work under a slave-like condition in countries like Qatar, China, and Kuwait. The largest proposition of their salaries goes back to the state to fund its operations. DPR maintains close surveillance of her oversees workers eliminate chances of defection.

Discrimination against and minorities

Women and other vulnerable groups in North Korea experience discrimination in socio-political and economic aspects. Domestically, women suffer from rampant instances of sexual and other forms of home violence. Korea is a male-dominated society, and women experience discrimination from schools where stereotypes favor the boys as better leaders. Women have a chance of attaining a university degree and climbing to the apex of the Korean workers’ party. The government does not offer any protective measures or administrative directive to prevent an individual from perpetrating violence against women.

Furthermore, women are vulnerable because they do not have someone to report when the abuse occurs.  In the military, rape, and other forms of sexual abuses against women remain a widespread phenomenon. The government supports a social structure that propagates discrimination against some fraction of the population and families without influence. The country also practices a system of apartheid where individuals live according to their political influence, employment status, and schooling (Human Rights Watch, 2019). There are three levels in the classification system, namely the loyal, wavering, and hostile.

Abuse against children food security

North Korea educate children using a curriculum dominated by the Worker’s Party political agenda. This is a violation of their rights to liberty, undue influence, and personal sovereignty. The regime restricts the kind of knowledge the children may learn. Besides, children have a right to basic primary education. However, the government does not have adequate measures to improve education that lead to the complete development of an individual. Most children suffer from acute malnutrition, forcing them to quit school. “In all, 200,000 North Korean children suffer from acute malnutrition, including 60,000 with the most severe form that can be lethal, according to UNICEF” (Nebehay 2018, para. 10). The government advances its nuclear program at the expense of children suffering malnutrition. The government should establish a structure to promote education and the personal development of children.

Conclusion and Predictions

The reports evaluated reveals that North Korea suffers from acute Human rights violations. Human rights fall into various categories, as presented in UDHR. North Korea is a signatory of the international human rights code, which commitments DPR’s government to promote international standards on human rights.  In particular, the HRW report observes that the North Korea regime curtails citizens from enjoying most of the rights accorded y UDHR. Citizens do not have the freedom to religion, press, assembly, and association.

DPR is a single-party state ruled by the Worker’s party that controls all aspects of the social, political, and economic life of North Koreans. Citizens do not have the right to form trade unions or any other civil society group. Instead, the government aims to achieve complete and total control using various means, including detention and imprisonment. North Koreans are arrested for an unimaginable crime, including a lack of loyalty to the current regime. Prisoners live under the poor condition and forced to work in deplorable conditions. Forced labor represents an essential asset for the survival of the regime. Defectors from DPR’s prison report that they experienced torture and witnessed public prosecution. Those accused of a crime do not have a right to due process and are arbitrary sentenced to prison labor camps.

Finally, North Korea also promote the abuses and violation of women, children, and other vulnerable groups. Women are denied education and experiences sexual harassment, denied jobs, and underpaid than men. Few children have access to education because the regime channels most of its revenue to fund the missile and nuclear program. As a result, the government has limited resources to fund social welfare programs like health and education. Children are forced to drop out of school to help their parents work. Also, those in school are forced to work in some instances to sustain the operations of the school. This research dictates that the North Korean regime perpetrates human rights abuses in an attempt to hold a firm grip overpower.

Bibliography

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Human Rights Watch. 2019. “World Report 2019: Rights Trends in North Korea.” https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/north-korea (4 December 2019).

Nebehay, Stephanie. 2019. “60,000 North Korean Children May Starve, Sanctions Slow Aid – UNICEF.” Reuters. https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-northkorea-missiles-un-children/60000-north-korean-children-may-starve-sanctions-slow-aid-unicef-idUKKBN1FJ1F7 (4 December 2019).

“North Korea’s Sidelined Human Rights Crisis.” 2019. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44234505 (3 December 2019).

UNHCR. 2019. “The Price Is Rights: The Violation of the Right to an Adequate Standard of Living in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.” https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/KP/ThePriceIsRights_EN.pdf (4 December 2019).

Ulferts, Gregory, and Terry L Howard. 2017. “North Korean Human Rights Abuses and Their Consequences.” North Korean Review 13(2): 84-92.

Woong Lee Won. 2007. “Politics of Human Rights in North Korea.” Journal of Asian and African Studies 42(3-4): 233-244.