A peep through North Korea’s iron curtain

As North Korea does not allow outsiders to survey its human rights situation, we have no way to get an account of the ground realities except from defectors who have now settled in South Korea. We had the opportunity to conduct in-depth interviews of some of these defectors and get a picture of the dismal conditions in their country.

Our survey brought to light cases of public execution that continue in North Korea for such social deviations as murder, rape and human-trafficking, for illicitly circulating information from the outside world and for drug-trafficking and contraband trade. Through this survey, we realised that there have been some noticeable changes in the types of crimes which are subject to public execution.

Public executions

A testimony was obtained from North Korean defectors about a person being executed in public on charges of killing a public security officer and a guidance supervisor of the state security department. The executed North Korean is known to have killed the security officer out of dissatisfaction over the government’s reinforced social control of its residents in the course of Kim Jong-un succeeding Kim Jong-il. This shows that the North Korean authorities are taking a stern action on those who challenge the socialist regime.

The authorities also executed in public those who failed in their duty to supply electricity to the capital, Pyongyang, and those who squandered state property. The Pyongyang regime appeared to have severely punished such acts which the regime considers anti-state and which hinder the progress to its self-proclaimed goal of constructing a “Kangsong Taeguk”, or strong, prosperous and powerful country.

There were public executions of those who engaged in livestock-trafficking — of such animals as cows and goats. In a more bizarre case, a man was charged with eating human flesh. Executions for these types of cases have re-emerged since Pyongyang’s botched currency reform in 2009, which caused massive inflation and worsened food shortage. These cases allow us a peek into the economic crisis in North Korea.

However, the number of public executions has decreased, the survey suggests. Of the 230 North Korean defectors interviewed in 2001, only two testified that they either witnessed or heard of a horrific public execution. We can analyse the reasons for the reduction in public executions as follows.

First, the North Korean authorities appear to have switched to secret executions due to rising international criticism. They also seem to have imposed more sentences of life imprisonment and labour at the concentration camps. In this scenario, it is important for South Korea to continue cooperation with the international community, including the United Nations, by raising the North’s human rights issue on the basis of its universality. Second, the North has not made any gains from the executions in its efforts to keep its dictatorial regime in power by terrorising its people.

Still another reason for the reduction of public executions seems to be related to overall corruption in North Korean society. According to the testimonies of the defectors, bribery is widespread in the socialist state. People who are sentenced to be executed for grave criminal charges evade through bribes; their charges are reduced and the sentence converted to a lighter punishment.

We cannot say for sure the cases of execution decreased last year, as those interviewed are geographically disproportionate. Therefore, we cannot rule out the possibility that more 2011 executions may be reported by defectors who will seek refuge in South Korea in the future.

Judicial procedures

It is worth looking at whether North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who became the absolute head of the dynastic regime after his father Kim Jong-il’s death last December, will increase public executions and continue to terrorise people to strengthen his dynastic rule, move towards secret executions, or opt for sentences of hard labour, keeping in mind the international criticism.

In documents that have been made public, we have found North Korea’s judicial prosecutors’ considering public executions. According to these documents, the country’s court gives death sentence to criminals based on the Criminal Code and other crime-related clauses.

In a more detailed case, the Pyongyang City Court invoked the Criminal Code to give death sentence to a man named Ri Song-chol on charges of intentional damage of state’s property. In September 2010, the North’s Supreme Court asked the Pyongyang City Court to implement Ri’s execution.

In another case, the court of North Pyongyang Province sentenced to death Kim Chun-nam under the Criminal Code’s Appendix Article 4. Here again, the Supreme Court asked the Pyongyang court to implement Kim’s execution.

These documents provided us with the first case that showed North Korea’s intentions to persist with the Criminal Code in conducting public executions. Going by the documents, it is, however, questionable that all public executions are being conducted in accordance with the criminal law and procedures.

Forced labour, torture and beatings are commonplace at various correctional facilities, such as detention houses, prisons and concentration camps. In most cases, guidance members of the prisons and unit supervisors of the cells exercise violence against prison inmates and sometimes use other inmates to do so.

Nutrition and medical facilities for detainees are very poor at these institutions. If a prison inmate develops a severe medical condition, he or she is exempt from forced labour but is not given treatment. Forced labour and violent acts frequently lead to injuries and diseases among the prisoners. Some even die of malnutrition and diseases.

From the interviews with the North Korean defectors, we found that such infringements of corporal freedom and safety rights occurred most frequently at Chongin concentration camp in North Hamgyong Province. Among “educational” camps, Jongo-ri educational centre topped the list for overstepping its mandate. Among the detention facilities, the Onsong country camp, operated by the state security department, is the most notorious for violating human rights.

The defectors testified to many cases of human rights violations at labour camps across the country. There are more testimonies of human rights violations in Yanggang and Jagang provinces than in Phyongan and Hwanghae provinces.

Rights of corporal freedom

In North Korea, there are 150,000 to 200,000 political prisoners in various detention camps. They live in inhuman conditions. An increasing number of people are being sent to these concentration camps on espionage charges, such as attempts to defect to South Korea and unauthorised contact with South Koreans.

Moreover, family members of those who fled the communist regime are put behind bars. A number of people are also being sent to the concentration camps on charges of engaging in religious activities, such as attending prayer meetings. Human-trafficking is another common charge.

Economic offenders with severe charges are also sent to camps for political prisoners. A North Korean defector told us about two employees of a milk supply centre who were caught stealing condensed milk from the storage facility and selling it illegally. The two men and their families were later sent to camps housing political prisoners in around February 2010. The condensed milk storage facility in Chonnae County, Kangwon Province, built by the orders of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, is a secret warehouse for emergencies.

The testimonies and publications of the defectors shed more light on the dismal condition of the political camps. When a person is sent to a camp, their resident certificate card is confiscated, thereby depriving them of suffrage and eligibility for election. They are also denied normal rations of food and medical benefits. Marriage and childbirth are also prohibited.

There used to be a time when such prisoners were able to join the country’s ruling Workers’ Party, and marry and have children. A defector named Kim Hye-suk who is now settled in South Korea spent 27 years in a concentration camp for political prisoners (No. 18 control office). She became an exemplary member of the Socialist Workers’ Youth League and was admitted to the Workers’ Party in October 1984. Later, She married a mine blaster and had a child.

Although parents and children are confined in the same camp, they must carry out their different obligations under the camp rules. It is said that if a married couple is in the same camp, the husband and wife are forced to work separately, one at night and the other during the day, so that they cannot have time together. A waterway, located at the No. 22 control office, is used for the purpose of drowning inmates while saving on bullets.

Political prisoners

Despite the formal inauguration of the system under Kim Jong-un, it appears difficult to expect any improvement in the civil and political rights of North Koreans. There is, however, a possibility of the economic activities of ordinary residents giving rise to more confrontations with the authorities.

Then, the human rights situation will likely worsen further. But, despite the tightened control, the people’s awareness of the outside world along with their own rights will further increase with the continued inflow of information through video, TV and publications. (Yonhap News)

Kim Soo-am and Lee Kyu-chang are both senior research fellows at Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, South Korea.