human rights in North Korea

{{main|Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea}}

File:Commission of Inquiry on the DPRK Presents Report-2.jpg

On May 6, 2013, the United Nations Human Rights Council announced an appointment of Michael Kirby of Australia, Sonja Biserko of Serbia, and Marzuki Darusman of Indonesia as members of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.{{cite news|title=Council President appoints Members of Commission of Inquiry on the Democratic People's Republic in Korea |url=http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=13301&LangID=E |access-date=August 20, 2013 |newspaper=The United Nations |date=May 7, 2013 |location=Geneva |type=News release |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130808193842/http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=13301&LangID=E |archive-date=August 8, 2013 }}

[The] commission of inquiry will investigate the systematic, widespread and grave violations of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ... including the violation of the right to food, the violations associated with prison camps, torture and inhumane treatment, arbitrary detention, discrimination, violations of freedom of expression, violations of the right to life, violations of freedom of movement, and enforced disappearances, including in the form of abductions of nationals of other States, with a view to ensuring full accountability, in particular where these violations may amount to crimes against humanity.{{cite web|title=Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council: Situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea |url=http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G13/128/65/PDF/G1312865.pdf?OpenElement |publisher=United Nations |access-date=20 August 2013 |date=9 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130829031840/http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G13/128/65/PDF/G1312865.pdf?OpenElement |archive-date=August 29, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}

On August 20, 2013, the commission began five days of public hearings at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea receiving testimony from defectors,{{cite news |author=Sang-hun |first=Choe |date=August 20, 2013 |title=North Korean Defectors Tell U.N. Panel of Prison Camp Abuses |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/21/world/asia/north-korean-defectors-tell-un-panel-of-prison-camp-abuses.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403024747/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/21/world/asia/north-korean-defectors-tell-un-panel-of-prison-camp-abuses.html |archive-date=April 3, 2015 |access-date=August 20, 2013 |newspaper=The New York Times}} and on August 29, 2013, in Japan from relatives of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s.{{Cite web |date=2013-08-29 |title=UN Panel Hears from Relatives of Japanese Abucted by N. Korea |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/un-panel-hears-from-relatives-of-japanese-abucted-by-nkorea/1739272.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130831151704/http://www.voanews.com/content/un-panel-hears-from-relatives-of-japanese-abucted-by-nkorea/1739272.html |archive-date=2013-08-31 |access-date= |website=Voice of America News}}[https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=45682&Cr=democratic&Cr1=korea#.Uh98uCShUgE "UN human rights probe on DPR Korea set to begin hearings in Japan"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170208074928/http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=45682&Cr=democratic&Cr1=korea |date=February 8, 2017 }}, UN News Centre, August 23, 2013. North Korea describes the inquiry as "a political plot" and it has not given investigators access to the country. The UN panel interviewed witnesses in South Korea, Japan, and the UK, and it also conducted hearings in the U.S. on October 30 and 31, 2013. The commission said it has consistently asked North Korean representatives to take part in the public hearings and question witnesses.

On February 17, 2014, the panel published its findings in a 400-page report.{{cite web |last1=Kirby |first1=Michael |last2=Darusman |first2=Marzuki |last3=Biserko |first3=Sonja |date=February 17, 2014 |title=Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea |url=http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/CoIDPRK/Pages/ReportoftheCommissionofInquiryDPRK.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140217224637/http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/CoIDPRK/Pages/ReportoftheCommissionofInquiryDPRK.aspx |archive-date=February 17, 2014 |access-date=February 18, 2014 |work=United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights}} The commission accused the North Korean government of being involved in systemic, widespread and gross human rights violations. The panel chairman Michael Kirby described some acts by stating that they resembled those committed by the Nazis.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/17/north-korea-human-rights-abuses-united-nations|title=North Korea human rights abuses resemble those of the Nazis, says UN inquiry|work=The Guardian|first=Peter|last=Walker|date=February 18, 2024|access-date=February 3, 2024}}

{{blockquote|In many instances, the violations of human rights found by the commission constitute crimes against humanity. These are not mere excesses of the State; they are essential components of a political system that has moved far from the ideals on which it claims to be founded. The gravity, scale and nature of these violations revealed a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world.}}

Roberta Cohen, joint chair of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said it was now up to the world community to take action to protect those persecuted and bring the perpetrators to justice. The DPRK rejected the findings. In a statement it said the commission was "a product of politicization of human rights on the part of the EU and Japan, in alliance with the US hostile policy".{{Cite web |date=2014-02-17 |title=UN panel on North Korea details horrific torture, appeals to world to act |url=http://www.asiabulletin.com/index.php/sid/220121420/scat/bf053b50c46383e0/ht/UN-panel-on-North-Korea-details-horrific-torture-appeals-to-world-to-act |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140218083650/http://www.asiabulletin.com/index.php/sid/220121420/scat/bf053b50c46383e0/ht/UN-panel-on-North-Korea-details-horrific-torture-appeals-to-world-to-act |archive-date=2014-02-18 |access-date= |website=Asia Bulletin}} On November 18, 2014, the UN voted in favor of a draft resolution to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30107489 |title=North Korea: UN moves closer to ICC human rights probe |work=BBC News |date=November 19, 2014 |access-date=April 22, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203195952/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30107489 |archive-date=February 3, 2017 }}{{cite web |last=Sanchez |first=Ray |date=November 18, 2014 |title=Un votes against North Korea on human rights |url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/18/world/asia/un-north-korea-vote/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207123316/http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/18/world/asia/un-north-korea-vote/index.html |archive-date=February 7, 2017 |access-date=April 22, 2017 |website=CNN}}

Human-rights discourse in North Korea has a history that predates the establishment of the state in 1948. Based on Marxist theory, Confucian tradition, and the Juche idea, North Korean human-rights theory regards rights as conditional rather than universal, holds that collective rights take priority over individual rights, and that welfare and subsistence rights are important.{{cite journal |last1=Song |first1=Jiyoung |last2=Weatherley |first2=Robert |date=June 2008 |title=The Evolution of Human Rights Thinking in North Korea |journal=Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=272–296 |doi=10.1080/13523270802003111 |doi-access=free}}

Kim Il Sung stated that the concept of democracy cannot "provide freedom and rights to hostile elements who oppose socialism or impure elements who act against the interests of the People".{{Cite book |last=Song |first=Jiyoung |title=Human Rights Discourse in North Korea: Post-Colonial, Marxist, and Confucian Perspectives |publisher=Taylor & Francis US |pages=104}}

The government of North Korea claims that the Constitution of the DPRK guarantees the human rights of its people, and that these guarantees are fully elaborated in its laws and regulations. It claims that these human-rights guarantees and laws are strictly enforced throughout the country and with respect to every individual.{{cite web|title=NATIONAL REPORT SUBMITTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH PARAGRAPH 15 (A) OF THE ANNEX TO HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL RESOLUTION 5/1* Democratic People's Republic of Korea |url=http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session6/KP/A_HRC_WG6_6_PRK_1_E.pdf |work=HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Sixth session |publisher=United Nations |access-date=August 4, 2012 |date=November 30 – December 11, 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110913054743/http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session6/KP/A_HRC_WG6_6_PRK_1_E.pdf |archive-date=September 13, 2011 }}

Seven months after the release of the Commission of Inquiry report, North Korea released its own DPRK Association for Human Rights Studies report, which claims that North Koreans enjoy "genuine human rights".{{Cite news |author=Taylor |first=Adam |date=September 17, 2014 |title=North Korea wrote a 53,558-word report on its human rights record. The conclusion? It's pretty good. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/09/17/north-korea-wrote-a-53558-word-report-on-its-human-rights-record-the-conclusion-its-pretty-good/ |access-date=May 11, 2015 |newspaper=The Washington Post}} North Korea also agreed to implement 113 of the 268 recommendations to improve its human rights performance made at the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review process.{{Cite web |author=Ryan-im |first=Byul |date=October 26, 2014 |title=Yongusil 50: A Cause for Optimism—Michael Kirby in Hong Kong |url=http://sinonk.com/2014/10/26/kirby-in-hong-kong/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713023100/http://sinonk.com/2014/10/26/kirby-in-hong-kong/ |archive-date=July 13, 2015 |access-date=May 11, 2015 |work=Sino-NK}} Kirby cited North Korea's participation in the Universal Periodic Review, the country's publication of their own human rights report, and Hwang Pyong-so's visit to the 2014 Asian Games a "charm offensive" and expressed skepticism about whether the North Korean government has become genuinely concerned about human rights or is simply preparing for imminent criticism in the UN.{{Cite news |date=October 8, 2014 |title=North Korea defends human rights record in report to UN |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-29531969 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112172608/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-29531969 |archive-date=November 12, 2014 |access-date=May 11, 2015 |work=BBC News |type=Video}} Kirby welcomed parts of the DPRK Association for Human Rights Studies report as "fair comment" but noted that it fails to discuss the issues raised in the Commission of Inquiry report.{{Cite web|title=Epic Exchange Between Justice Kirby and DPRK Councilor Kim Song |publisher=The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea |work=YouTube |date=October 24, 2014 |access-date=May 11, 2015 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML5FZX5J1Cc |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160110124614/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML5FZX5J1Cc |archive-date=January 10, 2016 }}

North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung rejected the concept of civil rights for people who oppose the regime. There is an extensive system of informants throughout North Korea which monitor Koreans with respect to political and other possible infractions without reference to formal civil rights.{{cite web|title=Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011 Korea, Democratic People's Republic of |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/186491.pdf |work=Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011 |publisher=United States Department of State |access-date=August 3, 2011 |year=2011 |quote=The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) is an authoritarian state led by the Kim family for more than 60 years. On December 31, 2011, Kim Jong Un was named supreme commander of the Korean People's Army following the December 17 death of his father Kim Jong Il. Kim Jong Un's grandfather, the late Kim Il-sung, remains 'eternal president.' The national elections, held in March 2009, were neither free nor fair. Security forces report to the supreme leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, and to the civilians and military officers that form the National Defense Commission, the supreme ruling body of the state. Citizens did not have the right to change their government. The government subjected citizens to rigid controls over many aspects of their lives, including denial of the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association, religion, movement, and worker rights. There continued to be reports of a vast network of political prison camps in which conditions were often harsh and life-threatening. Defectors continued to report extrajudicial killings, disappearances, arbitrary detention, arrests of political prisoners, and torture. The judiciary was not independent and did not provide fair trials. There continued to be reports of severe punishment of some repatriated refugees and their family members. There were reports of trafficked women among refugees and workers crossing the border into China. The government made no known attempts to prosecute officials who committed human rights abuses. }}

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has officially acknowledged the widespread human rights violations that regularly occur in North Korea.{{cite web|title=The situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea |url=http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/G12/127/55/PDF/G1212755.pdf?OpenElement |publisher=United Nations Human Rights Council |access-date=August 3, 2012 |date=April 3, 2012 |quote=Deploring the grave, widespread and systematic human rights abuses in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, in particular, the use of torture and labour camps against political prisoners and repatriated citizens of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310142750/http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/G12/127/55/PDF/G1212755.pdf?OpenElement |archive-date=March 10, 2014 }} United Nation's Human Rights Resolution 2005/11 referred to specific types of abuses within North Korea:

{{blockquote|Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, public executions, extrajudicial and arbitrary detention, the absence of due process and the rule of law, imposition of the death penalty for political reasons, the existence of a large number of prison camps and the extensive use of forced labour;

Sanctions on citizens of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea who have been repatriated from abroad, such as treating their departure as treason leading to punishments of internment, torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, or the death penalty;

All-pervasive and severe restrictions on the freedoms of thought, conscience, religion, opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association and on the access of everyone to information, and limitations imposed on every person who wishes to move freely within the country and travel abroad;

Continued violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women, in particular the trafficking of women for prostitution or forced marriage, ethnically motivated forced abortions, including by labour-inducing injection or natural delivery, as well as infanticide of children of repatriated mothers, including in police detention centres and labour training camps.{{cite web

|url=https://ap.ohchr.org/documents/E/CHR/resolutions/E-CN_4-RES-2005-11.doc

|title=Situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea: Human Rights Resolution 2005/11

|access-date=November 3, 2007

|author=UN Commission on Human Rights

|date=April 14, 2005

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070804192649/http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/E/CHR/resolutions/E-CN_4-RES-2005-11.doc

|archive-date=August 4, 2007

|df=mdy

}}}}

North Korea is one of the few nations in the world that does not belong to the International Labour Organization (ILO). However, ILO conventions are considered international labor standards, regardless of ratification. The ruling Korean Workers' Party firmly controls the only authorized trade union organization, the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea.[https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2013/country-chapters/north-korea?page=2 "Labor Rights"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211083848/https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2013/country-chapters/north-korea?page=2 |date=February 11, 2017 }}, Chapter on North Korea (page 2), World Report 2013, Human Rights Watch. Retrieved September 25, 2013.

Forced labor at the behest of the government has been institutionalized. Children (some as young as 11) are forced to work on farms and construction sites at the behest of the government, and may be demanded to collect scrap metals and other materials by schools to be sold. Children are also required to do landscaping work such as cleaning riversides and planting trees.{{cite web|url=http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/north-korea-child-exploitation-lands-country-in-hot-water/news-story/07774ff7ad3625915be1d40515e00707 |title=North Korea: Child exploitation lands country in hot water |author=Debra Killalea |publisher=News.Com.Au |date=February 10, 2017 |access-date=February 10, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170210022745/http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/north-korea-child-exploitation-lands-country-in-hot-water/news-story/07774ff7ad3625915be1d40515e00707 |archive-date=February 10, 2017 }}{{Cite web |title=Institutionalised forced labour in North Korea constitutes grave violations of human rights – UN report |url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/07/institutionalised-forced-labour-north-korea-constitutes-grave-violations |access-date= |website=OHCHR}} The labor can be intensive and children living in the country's Kwalliso (detention camps) are also forced to engage in heavy work.{{cite magazine |author=Standish |first=Reid |date=June 12, 2014 |title=Child Labor Is Declining Worldwide, But It's Thriving in These Six Countries |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/06/12/child-labor-is-declining-worldwide-but-its-thriving-in-these-six-countries/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211155254/http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/06/12/child-labor-is-declining-worldwide-but-its-thriving-in-these-six-countries/ |archive-date=February 11, 2017 |access-date=February 10, 2017 |magazine=Foreign Policy}}

A report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on forced labor in North Korea concluded that North Koreans are exploited by an extensive multi-layered system of forced labor directed towards the interests of the state rather than the people and which is a means for the government to control, monitor, and indoctrinate the population. The report found that the institutionalized forced labor system begins with children still in school and continues into adulthood. Military conscripts are routinely forced to work in agriculture and construction. After completing school and military service, North Koreans are assigned their jobs by the state, with no free choice of work, and may still be mobilized into "shock brigades" to carry out manual labor, often in agriculture and construction, for little or no pay. North Koreans carrying out forced labor are subjected to poor working conditions without pay, and are subjected to beatings with women also at risk of sexual violence. The report found widespread abuses in the exploitation of prisoners for labor to the extent that it could constitute slavery.

The North Korean constitution has clauses nominally guaranteeing the freedoms of speech and assembly.{{cite web|title=DPRK's Constitution (Full Text) |work=NovexCn.com |url=http://www.novexcn.com/dprk_constitution_98.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020718061108/http://www.novexcn.com/dprk_constitution_98.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 18, 2002 |access-date=November 19, 2007 }} In practice, other clauses take precedence, including the requirement that citizens follow a socialist way of life. Criticism of the government and its leaders is strictly curtailed and making such statements can be cause for arrest and consignment to one of North Korea's "re-education" camps.

There are numerous civic organizations, but all of them appear to be operated by the government. All routinely praise the government and perpetuate the personality cults of the Kim family. Defectors indicate that the promotion of the cult of personality is one of the primary functions of almost all films, plays, and books produced within the country.{{Cite web |title=Korea, Democratic People's Republic of |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm?year=2012&dlid=204210 |access-date=September 25, 2013 |website=Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012 |publisher=Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State}}

Information about the outside world is strictly curtailed. All but a minuscule minority of North Korean citizens are prohibited from using the Internet. The government maintains an intranet called Kwangmyong which is disconnected from the global Internet. The government distributes all radio and television sets; citizens are forbidden to alter them to make it possible to receive broadcasts from other nations; doing so carries severe penalties. Consumption of foreign media is strictly prohibited and can even be punished by execution.{{Cite web |last=Son |first=Sarah A. |date=2024-02-14 |title=North Korea steps up efforts to stamp out consumption of illegal foreign media – but entertainment-hungry citizens continue to flout the ban |url=https://theconversation.com/north-korea-steps-up-efforts-to-stamp-out-consumption-of-illegal-foreign-media-but-entertainment-hungry-citizens-continue-to-flout-the-ban-223129 |access-date= |website=The Conversation}}

{{main|Freedom of religion in North Korea}}

File:2013 Temple of Modern Buddhism Group in North Korea (10390588824).jpg,Uri Tours: [http://uritours.com/blog/entry/buddhist-temple-tour-in-north-korea Exclusive Buddhist Temple Tour of North Korea] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141213211520/http://uritours.com/blog/entry/buddhist-temple-tour-in-north-korea |date=December 13, 2014 }} at the Pohyonsa Buddhist temple in 2013]]

The North Korean constitution nominally protects religious freedom, as long as it is not used to harm the state or the social order.{{cite web|title=Socialist Constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea |work=International Constitutional Law (ICL) Project, April 2009 |url=http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/kn00000_.html |access-date=January 11, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120128160337/http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/kn00000_.html |archive-date=January 28, 2012 }} However, in practice, there is no genuine religious freedom,{{cite web|title=Thank You Father Kim Il Sung |work=U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, November 2005 |url=http://www.uscirf.gov/images/stories/pdf/nkwitnesses.pdf |access-date=January 11, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131026025832/http://www.uscirf.gov/images/stories/pdf/nkwitnesses.pdf |archive-date=October 26, 2013 }} and the government severely restricts religious activity except if it is supervised by government organizations.{{cite web|title=2010 International Religious Freedom Report |work=US State Department, September 13, 2011 |url=https://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2010_5/168360.htm |access-date=January 11, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113034814/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2010_5/168360.htm |archive-date=January 13, 2012 }}

Reports from refugee, defector, missionary, and nongovernmental organizations report that individuals engaging in proselytizing, with ties to overseas evangelical groups operating in China, or who have been repatriated from China and found to been in contact with foreigners or missionaries are likely to be arrested and harshly penalized.{{cite report|date= 2019 |title= 2019 Report on International Religious Freedom: Democratic People's Republic of Korea |url= https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-report-on-international-religious-freedom/north-korea/ |publisher= Office of International Religious Freedom |access-date=21 February 2024}}

Refugees and defectors allege that they witnessed the arrests and execution of members of underground Christian churches by the regime.{{Cite web |title=Christian Persecution in North Korea |url=http://www.worldwatchlist.us/world-watch-list-countries/north-korea/ |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927221604/http://www.worldwatchlist.us/world-watch-list-countries/north-korea/ |archive-date=2013-09-27 |access-date=September 25, 2013 |website=World Watch List}} Due to the country's inaccessibility and the inability to gain timely information, the continuation of this activity remains difficult to verify.{{Cite web |title=Korea, Democratic People's Republic of |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?year=2012&dlid=208238 |access-date=September 25, 2013 |website=Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012 |publisher=Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State}}

{{Main|Persecution of Christians in North Korea}}

According to the Christian Open Doors organization, North Korea is the leader among countries who persecute Christians.{{cite web|title=World Watch List 2012: North Korea No. 1 Persecutor of Christians for 10th Straight Year |work=Open Doors, January 2, 2012 |url=http://www.opendoorsusa.org/press/press-release/2012/January/Islamic-Majority-Countries-Top-Open-Doors-2012-World-Watch-List |access-date=January 11, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114071906/http://www.opendoorsusa.org/press/press-release/2012/January/Islamic-Majority-Countries-Top-Open-Doors-2012-World-Watch-List |archive-date=January 14, 2012 }} Christian Solidarity Worldwide say there are numerous reports of people being sent to prison camps{{cite web | title= North Korea: A case to answer, a call to act | work=Christian Solidarity Worldwide, 2007 | url= http://docs-eu.livesiteadmin.com/c8880e0f-f6ed-4585-8f09-4e4b6d11e698/north-korea-a-case-to-answer-a-call-to-act.pdf | access-date=January 11, 2012}} and subjected to torture and inhuman treatment because of their faith.{{cite web | title= 50,000 Christians imprisoned in North Korea | work= Vatican Radio, April 15, 2011 | url= http://www.radiovaticana.org/IN2/articolo.asp?c=479048 | archive-url= https://archive.today/20120908034043/http://www.radiovaticana.org/IN2/articolo.asp?c=479048 | url-status= dead | archive-date= September 8, 2012 | access-date= January 11, 2012 }} It is estimated that 50,000–70,000 Christians are held in North Korean prison camps.{{cite web |title=Death of Kim Jong-Il may not change much for North Korean Christians |work=Open Doors UK, December 2011 |url=http://www.opendoorsuk.org/news/stories/kim_jong_il.php |access-date=January 11, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304015959/http://www.opendoorsuk.org/news/stories/kim_jong_il.php |archive-date=March 4, 2012 }} There are reports of public executions of Christians.{{cite web|title=North Korea crushing churches |work=National Post Canada, November 18, 2005 |url=http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=5af3e8a1-30ed-4726-9643-e04eec4e3879 |access-date=January 11, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120215021406/http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=5af3e8a1-30ed-4726-9643-e04eec4e3879 |archive-date=February 15, 2012 }}{{cite web |title=New Reports Tell of Executions, Torture of Christians in North Korea |work=Christian Today, May 27, 2005 |url=http://www.christiantoday.com/article/new.reports.tell.of.executions.torture.of.christians.in.north.korea/4623-2.htm |access-date=January 11, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120813102840/http://www.christiantoday.com/article/new.reports.tell.of.executions.torture.of.christians.in.north.korea/4623-2.htm |archive-date=August 13, 2012 }} For example, Ri Hyon-ok was allegedly publicly executed in Ryongchon on June 16, 2009 for giving out Bibles, while her husband and children were deported to the Hoeryong political prison camp.{{cite web | title= North Korea executes woman for giving out bibles | work= New York Post, July 24, 2009| date= July 24, 2009| url= http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/item_RtoJPergqcqj7mhgvIhyoM | access-date= January 11, 2012}} If authorities discover that North Korean refugees deported from China have converted to Christianity, they suffer harsher ill-treatment, torture, and prolonged imprisonment.{{cite web|title=A prison without bars, Eyewitness accounts of the persecution of members of religious groups and repatriated refugees (p. 27–31) |work=U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, March 2008 |url=http://northkoreanchristians.com/prisonwithoutbars.pdf |access-date=January 11, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227175933/http://northkoreanchristians.com/prisonwithoutbars.pdf |archive-date=February 27, 2014 }}{{Better source needed|date=September 2022}} The government considers religious activities political crimes,{{cite journal|title=North Korea: Harsher Policies against Border-Crossers |journal=Human Rights Watch |date=March 5, 2007 |url=https://www.hrw.org/en/node/79004/section/2 |access-date=January 11, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608064052/http://www.hrw.org/en/node/79004/section/2 |archive-date=June 8, 2011 }} because they could challenge the personality cult and semi-deification of Kim Il Sung and his family.{{cite magazine|title=N. Korea escalates 'cult of Kim' to counter West's influence |magazine=The Christian Science Monitor |date=January 3, 2007 |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0103/p01s04-woap.html |access-date=January 11, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108090310/http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0103/p01s04-woap.html |archive-date=January 8, 2012 }}

From 1949 to the mid-1950s, under the rule of Kim Il Sung, all churches were closed.{{cite news |author=Lankov |first=Andrei |date=March 16, 2005 |title=North Korea's missionary position |url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/GC16Dg03.html |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050318052905/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/GC16Dg03.html |archive-date=March 18, 2005 |access-date=August 4, 2012 |website=Asia Times}}{{cite web|title=Destroyed Church in Wonsan Vicinity |work=Willibroard's Gallery |url=http://picasaweb.google.com/WillibrordDriever/TokwonAbteikircheNachDerZerstorung#5318714733524560162 |archive-date=July 18, 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120718033834/http://picasaweb.google.com/WillibrordDriever/TokwonAbteikircheNachDerZerstorung%235318714733524560162 |url-status=dead|access-date=January 10, 2012 }}{{cite web|title=First Church Building Opened in Communist North Korea |work=The Forerunner, December 2007 |date=December 22, 2007 |url=http://www.forerunner.com/forerunner/X0809_Church_opened_North_.html |access-date=January 10, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120129115833/http://www.forerunner.com/forerunner/X0809_Church_opened_North_.html |archive-date=January 29, 2012 }} According to AsiaNews, all non-foreign Catholic priests were executed,{{cite web|title=N. Korea martyrs slated for sainthood |work=Religion and Spirituality, May 28, 2007 |url=http://www.religionandspirituality.com/view/post/11803293318500/N_Korea_martyrs_slated_for_sainthood/ |access-date=January 10, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130314041217/http://www.religionandspirituality.com/view/post/11803293318500/N_Korea_martyrs_slated_for_sainthood/ |archive-date=March 14, 2013 }} and Protestant leaders who did not renounce their faith were purged as "American spies". The martyrdom of the Benedictine monks of Tokwon Abbey was documented{{cite web|title=The Martyrs of Tokwon: Historical Preliminary Notes |work=Missionary Benedictines of St. Ottilien |url=http://www.missionsbenediktiner.de/seligsprechung/cms/kategorie/index.php?kategorieid=59&parentid=59&languageid=1 |access-date=January 10, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922223517/http://www.missionsbenediktiner.de/seligsprechung/cms/kategorie/index.php?kategorieid=59&parentid=59&languageid=1 |archive-date=September 22, 2013 }} as the process of beatification was initiated for them.{{cite web|title=North Korean Martyrs, the first process for beatification gets underway |work=Asia News, May 25, 2007 |url=http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=9368 |access-date=January 10, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925222950/http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=9368 |archive-date=September 25, 2012 }} Only 60 out of 400 Buddhist temples have survived the religious persecution in the 1950s. The 1,600 monks were killed, disappeared in prison camps or were forced to recant their faith.{{cite web | title= White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea 2011 (p. 303 – 310) | work=Korea Institute for National Unification, August 30, 2011 | url= http://www.kinu.or.kr/eng/pub/pub_04_01.jsp?page=1&num=32&mode=view&field=&text=&order=&dir=&bid=DATA04&ses=| access-date=May 8, 2012}} The remaining temples are now preserved as national cultural heritage. North Korean defectors reported that government-employed "monks" are serving as caretakers and tourist guides, but they did not see genuine worship.{{cite web |title=A prison without bars, Eyewitness accounts of the persecution of members of religious groups and repatriated refugees |url=http://northkoreanchristians.com/prisonwithoutbars.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227175933/http://northkoreanchristians.com/prisonwithoutbars.pdf |archive-date=February 27, 2014 |access-date=May 8, 2012 |work=U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, March 2008 |pages=19–21}} As reported, most Buddhists are afraid to openly practice their religion in the temple areas and practice their religion only in secret. However, on special occasions, ceremonies were permitted by the authorities.{{cite web | title= White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea 2011 (p. 310) | work=Korea Institute for National Unification, August 30, 2011 | url= http://www.kinu.or.kr/eng/pub/pub_04_01.jsp?page=1&num=32&mode=view&field=&text=&order=&dir=&bid=DATA04&ses=| access-date=May 8, 2012}}

The North Korean government estimated the number of religious believers in 2002 to be 12,000 Protestants,{{cite news |author=Gluck |first=Caroline |date=January 6, 2002 |title=Eyewitness: Christianity in North Korea |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1744847.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031209210139/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1744847.stm |archive-date=December 9, 2003 |access-date=August 4, 2012 |work=BBC News}} 10,000 Buddhists and 800 Catholics, while estimates by South Korean and international church-related groups were considerably higher. In addition, the Chondoist Chongu Party, a government-approved traditional religious movement, had approximately 15,000 practitioners.{{cite web|title=2010 International Religious Freedom Report |work=U.S. State Department, September 13, 2011 |url=https://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2010_5/168360.htm |access-date=January 11, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113034814/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2010_5/168360.htm |archive-date=January 13, 2012 }}

Since 1988, four church buildings have been erected in Pyongyang with foreign donations:{{cite news|title=Giving Out Bibles Leads to Executions |work=The Washington Times |date=December 8, 2006 |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/25/report-giving-out-bibles-led-to-execution/ |access-date=October 7, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141226184514/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/25/report-giving-out-bibles-led-to-execution/ |archive-date=December 26, 2014 }} one Catholic, two Protestant and one Russian Orthodox. However, they are only open to foreigners, and North Korean citizens cannot attend the services. The services are used to bring in foreign currency from foreign visitors, including South Koreans.{{cite web |date=August 2, 2005 |title=Bongsu Church in Pyongyang a Fraud, Only for False Propagation of Freedom of Religion |url=http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01600&num=237 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122133545/http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01600&num=237 |archive-date=January 22, 2014 |access-date=January 11, 2012 |work=Daily NK}}

File:JointSecurityAreaNorthKoreans.jpg

North Korean citizens usually cannot freely travel within, let alone outside, the country. Emigration and immigration are strictly controlled.{{Cite news |date=April 2002 |title=Korea: North, Amnesty |url=https://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=2606_0_3_0 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310143000/http://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=2606_0_3_0 |archive-date=March 10, 2014 |access-date=September 9, 2013 |work=Migration News |volume=9 |issue=4}} North Korean citizens must obtain a permit to travel outside their county of residence and upon reaching their destination report their arrival to the local authorities. According to testimony by defectors, obtaining such permits can be expedited through bribery.[https://repo.kinu.or.kr/bitstream/2015.oak/8553/1/Freedom%20of%20Movement%20in%20North%20Korea.pdf Freedom of Movement in North Korea]{{Cite web |date=2011-01-02 |title=Travel permits in N. Korea |url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2024/10/638_79022.html |access-date= |website=The Korea Times}} Forced resettlement of citizens and whole families, especially as punishment for political reasons, is said to be routine.{{cite web |author= |date=February 28, 2005 |title=Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Korea, Democratic People's Republic of |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41646.htm |access-date=November 3, 2007 |website=Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor |publisher=US Department of State}}

North Korean citizens are prohibited from leaving the country without permission, and those caught attempting to do so are harshly punished.{{Cite web |title=The North Korean People's Challenges |url=https://libertyinnorthkorea.org/learn-nk-challenges |access-date=2025-02-16 |website=libertyinnorthkorea.org}} The North Korean government treats emigrants from the country as defectors. Travel abroad is tightly controlled. The issuance of passports is heavily restricted, and those allowed to travel abroad must leave behind family members in North Korea who can be held hostage to ensure their return.[https://www.hrw.org/report/2024/03/07/a-sense-of-terror/stronger-than-a-bullet-the-closing-of-north-korea-2018%E2%80%932023 “A Sense of Terror Stronger than a Bullet”][https://www.nknews.org/2015/03/studying-abroad-with-your-family-held-hostage/ Studying abroad with your family held hostage]

North Korean refugees who flee to China are often later forcibly repatriated back to North Korea by authorities, and are routinely beaten and sent to prison camps after repatriation.{{cite journal|last1=Neaderland |first1=Benjamin |year=2004 |title=Quandary on the Yalu: International Law, Politics, and China's North Korean Refugee Crisis |journal=Stanford Journal of International Law |issue=1 |pages=143–178 |url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/stanit40&div=10&g_sent=1&collection=journals |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310153023/http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals%2Fstanit40&div=10&g_sent=1&collection=journals |archive-date=March 10, 2014 }} This treatment is more severe in cases where North Korean refugees have come into contact with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are associated with South Korea or with religions, especially Christianity. In cases where the North Korean government discovers that contact has occurred between refugees and these NGOs, the punishments for these refugees are torture and execution upon their repatriation back to North Korea.

In May 2016, Kim Jong Un temporarily banned all weddings and funerals across the country, and freedom of movement into and out of the capital, in preparation for a meeting, on 6 May, of the Workers' Party of Korea, the first gathering of its kind in 36 years.{{cite news |author=Lewis |first=Kayleigh |date=May 2, 2016 |title=Kim Jong-un bans all weddings, funerals and freedom of movement in North Korea |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/kim-jong-un-north-korea-bans-weddings-funerals-freedom-of-movement-party-congress-a7009691.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502154309/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/kim-jong-un-north-korea-bans-weddings-funerals-freedom-of-movement-party-congress-a7009691.html |archive-date=May 2, 2016 |access-date=May 2, 2016 |newspaper=The Independent}}

On 28 July 2020, UN human rights reported that women detained in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea are being subjected to multiple, serious human rights violations at the hands of security and police officials. The women have been given inadequate quantity and poor quality of food, leading to extreme malnutrition.{{cite web|title=Human rights report details 'heartbreaking' accounts of women detained in DPRK|url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/07/1069131|access-date=28 July 2020|website=United Nations|date=July 28, 2020}}

{{See also|Censorship in North Korea|Mass media in North Korea}}

{{As of|2017}}, North Korea occupies the last place on the Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders.{{Cite web|title=North Korea |publisher=Reporters Without Borders |date=2017 |access-date=April 28, 2017 |url=https://rsf.org/en/north-korea |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170426113250/https://rsf.org/en/north-korea |archive-date=April 26, 2017 }} The constitution of North Korea provides for freedom of the press, but in practice, all media is strictly controlled by the government. The national media is focused almost entirely on political propaganda and the promotion of the personality cults surrounding Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.{{cite web|title=Kim Jong Il's leadership, key to victory |work=Naenara |url=http://www.kcckp.net/en/news/news_view.php?0+1671 |access-date=January 27, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930013216/http://www.kcckp.net/en/news/news_view.php?0+1671 |archive-date=September 30, 2007 }} It emphasizes historical grievances toward the U.S. and Japan.

Reporters Without Borders claims that radio or television sets that can be bought in North Korea are preset to receive only the government frequencies and sealed with a label to prevent tampering with the equipment. It is a serious criminal offense to manipulate the sets and receive radio or television broadcasts from outside North Korea. In a party campaign in 2003, the head of each party cell in neighborhoods and villages received instructions to verify the seals on all radio sets.{{cite web|title=North Korea – Annual report 2005 |publisher=Reporters Without Borders |url=http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=13430 |access-date=January 25, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051231001011/http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=13430 |archive-date=December 31, 2005 }}

As North and South Korea use different television systems (PAL and NTSC, respectively), it is not possible to view broadcasts across the border between the two countries; however, in areas bordering China, it has reportedly been possible to receive television from that country. A United Nations envoy reported that any North Korean citizen caught watching a South Korean film may result in that person being sent to a labor camp.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8321670.stm |title=N. Korea human rights 'abysmal' |date=October 23, 2009 |access-date=April 6, 2011 |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101104070905/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8321670.stm |archive-date=November 4, 2010 }}

{{see also|Korean nationalism|LGBTQ rights in North Korea}}

North Korea's population is one of the world's most ethnically homogeneous, and immigration is almost non-existent. Among the few immigrants that have willingly gone to North Korea are Japanese spouses (generally wives) of Koreans who returned from Japan from 1955 to the early 1980s. These Japanese have been forced to assimilate, and for the most part, the returnees overall are reported to have not been fully accepted into North Korean society (with a few exceptions, such as those who became part of the government), and instead ended up on the fringes. Foreigners who visit the country are generally strictly monitored by government minders{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/1390010/North-Korea-where-minders-keep-visitors-in-check.html |location=London |work=The Daily Telegraph |first=Damien |last=McElroy |title=North Korea, where minders keep visitors in check |date=April 6, 2002 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090412195720/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/1390010/North-Korea-where-minders-keep-visitors-in-check.html |archive-date=April 12, 2009 }} and are forbidden to enter certain locations.{{cite web|title=Korea, Democratic People's Republic of: Consular Information Sheet |work=U.S. Department of State |url=https://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_988.html |access-date=November 20, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130101184313/http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_988.html |archive-date=January 1, 2013 }}

In 2014, after the United Nations Human Rights Council published a report on human rights in North Korea advising a referral to the International Criminal Court, the official Korean Central News Agency responded with an article that included homophobic insults against report author Michael Kirby, who is openly gay. The KCNA's article went on to state that gay marriage "can never be found in the DPRK boasting of the sound mentality and good morals, and homosexuality has become a target of public criticism even in Western countries, too. In fact, it is ridiculous for such gay {{sic}} to sponsor dealing with others' human rights issue."{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/04/22/north-korean-state-media-slams-u-n-human-rights-report-because-it-was-led-by-a-gay-man/|first=Adam|last=Taylor|title=North Korea slams U.N. human rights report because it was led by gay man|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=April 22, 2014|access-date=April 23, 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2014/201404/news22/20140422-02ee.html|website=kcna.co.jp|publisher=Korean Central News Agency|access-date=August 17, 2015|date=April 22, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729025304/http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2014/201404/news22/20140422-02ee.html|archive-date=July 29, 2014|title=KCNA Commentary Slams Artifice by Political Swindlers}}

{{see also|Disability in North Korea}}

As a state party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), North Korea has international obligations to refrain from discriminating against its people based on disability (among other criteria). Under Article 2 of the CRC, "States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child's or their parent's or legal guardian's race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status" (emphasis added).

On March 22, 2006, the Associated Press reported from South Korea that a North Korean doctor who defected, Ri Kwang-chol, has claimed that babies born with physical defects are rapidly put to death and buried.{{cite news|title=Nation under a nuclear cloud: 'Racially not impure' children killed |work=The Times |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article600929.ece |access-date=November 19, 2007 |location=London |date=October 15, 2006 |first=Michael |last=Sheridan |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070303235937/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article600929.ece |archive-date=March 3, 2007 }} A report by the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in North Korea highlighted reports from defectors describing how disabled people are allegedly "rounded up" and sent to "special camps".{{cite web | title=U.N.: N. Korea puts disabled in camps | work=Disabled Peoples' International| url=http://v1.dpi.org/lang-en/resources/details?page=753| access-date=November 19, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323130414/http://www.dpi.org/lang-en/resources/details.php?page=753 |archive-date=March 23, 2012}}

However, the charity Handicap International reports that it has been operating in North Korea since 1999, assisting the Korean Federation for the Protection of Disabled People, including supporting orthopedic centers serving thousands of disabled people.{{cite web|url=http://www.handicap-international.org.uk/where_we_work/asia/north_korea |title=North Korea |publisher=Handicap International |access-date=July 29, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120702152154/http://www.handicap-international.org.uk/where_we_work/asia/north_korea |archive-date=July 2, 2012 }} The International Committee of the Red Cross reported in 2006 that it had assisted in setting up a rehabilitation center for disabled people in Pyongyang.{{cite news|url=http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/news-release/2009-and-earlier/north-korea-news-240406.htm |title=North Korea: ICRC inaugurates a second physical rehabilitation centre |publisher=International Committee of the Red Cross |date=April 24, 2006 |access-date=June 20, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714235949/http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/news-release/2009-and-earlier/north-korea-news-240406.htm |archive-date=July 14, 2014 }} The International Campaign to Ban Landmines reports that North Korea "has a comprehensive system for assisting persons with disabilities; however, this system is limited by the general economic situation of the country."{{cite web|url=http://www.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm/2005/north_korea.html |title=Democratic People's Republic Of Korea – Mine Ban Policy |publisher=International Campaign to Ban Landmines |access-date=January 23, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150616095614/http://www.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm%2F2005%2Fnorth_korea.html |archive-date=June 16, 2015 }} North Korea participated in the Paralympic Games for the first time in 2012.

Still, the special rapporteur for human rights in the DPRK, Marzuki Darusman, stated the following in his report before the United Nations Human Rights Council's twenty-second session:

As early as 2003 the Commission on Human Rights expressed deep concern at the "mistreatment of and discrimination of disabled children". Since 2006 the General Assembly has consistently decried "continuing reports of violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with disabilities, especially on the use of collective camps and coercive measures that target the rights of persons with disabilities to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children." Whereas in 2006 the Special Rapporteur noted "to date, those with disabilities are sent away from the capital city, and particularly those with mental disabilities are detained in areas or camps known as 'Ward 49' with harsh and subhuman conditions."A/HRC/22/57, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Marzuki Darusman, 26, para. 72.

According to Marked for Life: Songbun, North Korea's Social Classification System, North Korea adopted a law in 2003 to promote equal access to public services for disabled people and it claimed in its second report on compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that its handicapped citizens are protected. North Korea acceded to this covenant on September 14, 1981. However, its law has not been implemented, and North Korean refugees in the South testify that the handicapped are severely discriminated against unless they are wounded soldiers who say their wounds were the result of U.S. aggression during the Korean War.{{cite book |author=Hawk |first=David |url=http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_Songbun_Web.pdf |title=Marked for Life: Songbun, North Korea's Social Classification System |publisher=Committee for Human Rights in North Korea |year=2012 |isbn=978-0985648008 |page=83 |access-date=February 3, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921212402/http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_Songbun_Web.pdf |archive-date=September 21, 2013 |url-status=live}}

{{See also|North Korean famine}}

A January 2004 report by Amnesty International noted that "North Korea remains dependent on food aid to feed its people, yet government policy still prevents the swift and equitable distribution of this aid, while the population is denied the right to freedom of movement, which would enable people to go and search for food."{{cite web|title=Starved of Rights |work=Human Rights and the Food Crisis in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/ASA24/003/2004/en/ |publisher=Amnesty International |date=January 2004 |archive-date=March 12, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150312022923/https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa24/003/2004/en/ }} The report found that the North Korean government had "failed in its duty to uphold and protect" the right to food and that the regime's actions "have exacerbated the effects of the famine and food crisis".

Shortly thereafter, the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea published Hunger and Human Rights: The Politics of Famine in North Korea (by Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland, 2005), which discussed the probability that North Korean food shortages in the 1990s were a man-made (regime) phenomenon and that with plausible policy adjustments – such as maintaining food imports on commercial terms or aggressively seeking multilateral assistance – the North Korean government could have avoided famine and food shortages. Instead, in a desperate attempt to conserve resources for the Korean government, the regime blocked humanitarian aid and diverted resources to the military.{{cite book|url=http://hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/Hunger_and_Human_Rights.pdf |title=Hunger and Human Rights: The Politics of Famine in North Korea |publisher=Committee for Human Rights in North Korea |author1=Haggard, Stephen |author2=Noland, Marcus |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-9771-1110-7 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131107091010/http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/Hunger_and_Human_Rights.pdf |archive-date=November 7, 2013 }}

In 2016, British scholar Hazel Smith reported that health and nutrition of the population had improved greatly and was comparable to other developing countries. She disputed the view that government policies were creating a human rights crisis that was unique to North Korea.{{cite journal|title=Nutrition and Health in North Korea: What's New, What's Changed and Why It Matters |url=https://www.academia.edu/25554321 |first=Hazel |last=Smith |journal=North Korean Review |date=Spring 2016 |page=27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20161212171700/http://www.academia.edu/25554321/Nutrition_and_Health_in_North_Korea_Whats_New_Whats_Changed_and_Why_It_Matters |archive-date=December 12, 2016 }}

Economic reform abolished the old coupon system in North Korea, which had favored non-productive citizens regarding access to food. After the coupon system disappeared, an average urban family spent between 75 and 85 percent of their income on food, while state farmers were spending only a third of their income on food. These disparities show that North Korea does not have safety net mechanisms to protect the vulnerable people in society, such as housewives and the elderly.

When the food crisis began, access to food came through a public distribution system (PDS) controlled by the regime, and entitlements were partly a function of political status. As the planned economy crumbled and markets developed in response to the state's inability to fulfill its obligations under the old social compact, the character of the crisis changed. Current shortages bear a closer resemblance to food emergencies in market and transition economies, where access to food is determined by one's capacity to command resources in the marketplace. This type of emergency is no less severe, but poses different challenges to outside donors.{{cite book |last1=Haggard |first1=Stephan |url=http://hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/Hunger_and_Human_Rights.pdf |title=Hunger and Human Rights: The Politics of Famine in North Korea |last2=Noland |first2=Marcus |publisher=Committee for Human Rights in North Korea |page=9 |access-date=February 3, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131107091010/http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/Hunger_and_Human_Rights.pdf |archive-date=November 7, 2013 |url-status=live}}

Food is distributed to the civilian population of North Korea through two channels. Workers on state and cooperative farms account for roughly 30 percent of the population, and most of these farmers are granted an annual allotment of grain at the time of the harvest. However, the country is highly urbanized, and the bulk of the population is fed through the PDS. The PDS distributes food as a monthly or biweekly ration. Rations, in turn, vary according to occupational status and age. For example, high-ranking party, government, and military officials are fed through separate distribution channels and receive higher rations, as do certain classes of workers.

In confronting the fundamentally non-cooperative stance of the North Korean government, the humanitarian community has pursued two basic strategies to guarantee the integrity of its assistance: the targeting of vulnerable groups, and the monitoring of food deliveries to assure that these targeted populations are being reached. At virtually every point, the North Korean government has placed roadblocks in the way of the donor community in North Korea, which succeeded to the extent that it did only through extraordinary perspicacity and flexibility. Yet, even by its own admission, this monitoring effort is a leaky sieve, and it is estimated that between 10 and 30 percent of food aid is diverted. Most concerns with diversion center on the appropriation of food by the military. Military and party elites have other sources of food; an equal if not greater problem is the diversion of food to the market or to less deserving groups.

Also, the remote regions that suffered from the most severe famine conditions were the first regions to stop receiving shipments of food supplies, and at the same time, as local industry collapsed, residents' purchasing power decreased.{{cite book|last=Natsios|first=Andrew|title=The Politics of Famine in North Korea|year=1999|publisher=US Institute of Peace|pages=5–11}}

Restrictions on the freedom to move caused the so-called 'hostile class' ‒ whose members were relocated to remote mountain areas ‒ to suffer from the limited access to food.

A UN human rights office report released in May 2019 highlighted the "appalling" levels of hunger that have been affecting around 10.9 million people particularly in north-eastern and rural provinces of North Korea.{{cite web|url=https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24651&LangID=E|title=People in North Korea trapped in vicious cycle of deprivation, corruption and repression – UN human rights report|access-date=28 May 2019|publisher=Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights}} UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet said, "The rights to food, health, shelter, work, freedom of movement and liberty are universal and inalienable, but in North Korea they depend primarily on the ability of individuals to bribe State officials."{{cite web|url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/05/1039251|title=North Koreans trapped in 'vicious cycle of deprivation, corruption, repression' and endemic bribery: UN human rights office|date=May 28, 2019|access-date=28 May 2019|publisher=UN News}}

According to detainee testimonies, detention was most often severely overcrowded and there existed a serious lack of food. "[It] made life in Yodok very difficult. We were given corn-rice in small quantities; at times we got only salt soup with cabbage leaves. No meat was served. We were always hungry; and resorted to eating grass in spring. Three or four people died of malnutrition. When someone died, fellow prisoners delayed reporting his death to the authorities so that they could eat his allocated breakfast."{{cite web|title=Testimony of Kim to Amnesty International on 2 and 7 December 2002 |work=Starved of Rights: Human Rights and the Food Crisis in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) |publisher=Amnesty International |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa24/003/2004/en/ |date=January 2004 |access-date=September 25, 2013 }}

{{See also|Prostitution in North Korea|Women's rights in North Korea}}

A group called "A Woman's Voice International" alleged that the state forcibly drafts girls as young as 14 years old to work in the so-called kippŭmjo, which includes prostitution teams. The source used is unclear as to whether only adult kippŭmjo are assigned to prostitution or whether there is prostitution of children – other kippŭmjo activities include massaging and cabaret dancing. Claims were made{{By whom|date=February 2025}} that they are ordered "to marry guards of Kim Jong-il or national heroes" when they are 25 years old."{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20040611071801/http://www.awomansvoice.org/nl1-2004-2.html Intervention Agenda Item 12: Elimination of Violence Against Women]}}" at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in April 2004; speaker: Ji Sun JEONG for A Woman's Voice International

{{see also|Abortion in North Korea}}

The People's Republic of China returns all refugees from North Korea, treated as illegal immigrants, usually imprisoning them in a short-term facility. Women who are suspected of being impregnated by Chinese men are subjected to forced abortions; babies born alive are killed.{{cite news |author=Brooke |first=James |date=June 10, 2002 |title=N. Koreans Talk of Baby Killings |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/10/world/n-koreans-talk-of-baby-killings.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319055143/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/10/world/n-koreans-talk-of-baby-killings.html |archive-date=March 19, 2012 |access-date=August 3, 2012 |newspaper=The New York Times}} Abortions up to full term are induced by injection; live premature babies or full-term newborns are sometimes killed but more commonly simply discarded into a bucket or box and then buried. They may live several days in the disposal container.{{cite book |author=Hawk |first=David |url=https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf |title=The Hidden Gulag Second Edition The Lives and Voices of "Those Who are Sent to the Mountains" |publisher=Committee for Human Rights in North Korea |year=2012 |isbn=978-0615623672 |edition=Second |pages=111–155 |access-date=June 16, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511131140/http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf |archive-date=May 11, 2021 |url-status=dead}}

The death penalty, often without judicial due process, is administered for a wide variety of political and common crimes. Attempts to escape from the country or from a prison camp within the country may result in execution on the spot. Personnel in the criminal justice system have wide discretion and are allegedly authorized to operate without regard to the formal legal rights of Koreans.

A number of members of the regime itself have disappeared or been executed after falling out of favor. The most prominent example is Jang Song-thaek, the uncle of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un. On December 8, 2013, Jang was publicly expelled from the ruling Workers' Party of Korea. Some of the accusations included "illicit affairs with women, obstructing the nation's economic affairs, and committing anti-party factional acts". On December 13, 2013, the state media announced that Jang had been executed.{{cite news|title=Even by North Korean standards, this announcement of Jang Song Thaek's execution is intense |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/12/12/even-by-north-korean-standards-this-announcement-of-jang-song-thaeks-execution-is-intense/ |access-date=December 13, 2013 |date=December 12, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213004902/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/12/12/even-by-north-korean-standards-this-announcement-of-jang-song-thaeks-execution-is-intense/ |archive-date=December 13, 2013 }}

The constitution states that courts are independent and that judicial proceedings are to take place in strict accordance to the law; however, an independent judiciary does not exist. Little information is available on formal criminal-justice procedures and practices, with outside access to the legal system limited to trials for traffic violations and other minor offenses.{{Cite report |url=https://www.hrnk.org/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/publications/eng/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf |title=The Hidden Gulag |last=Hawk |first=David |date=2012 |publisher=Committee for Human Rights in North Korea |location=Washington, D.C. |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0615623672 |access-date=September 25, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150313045221/http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf |archive-date=March 13, 2015 |url-status=live}}

The Ministry of Social Security (North Korea) (MSS) dispenses with trials in political cases and refers prisoners to the State Security Department (SSD) for punishment. According to Hidden Gulag, most inmates in prison camps arrive there without trial, without knowing the charges against them, and without having legal counsel. Witness to Transformation[http://www.piie.com/blogs/nk/ "North Korea: Witness to Transformation"] {{webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130923074035/http://www.piie.com/blogs/nk/ |date= September 23, 2013 }}, Peterson Institute for International Economics. Retrieved September 25, 2013. reported that only 13 percent of the 102 respondents who had been incarcerated in the country received a trial.

{{Cite web |last1=Haggard |first1=Stephan |last2=Noland |first2=Marcus |date=April 2012 |title=Economic Crime and Punishment in North Korea |url=http://www.piie.com/publications/wp/wp10-2.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130604174147/http://www.piie.com/publications/wp/wp10-2.pdf |archive-date=June 4, 2013 |access-date=September 25, 2013 |website=Peterson Institute for International Economics |id=Working Paper 10-2}}

{{main|Capital punishment in North Korea#Public executions}}

According to the US State Department, North Korea resumed public executions in October 2007 - such executions had declined in number in the years following 2000 amidst international criticism. Prominent executed criminals include officials convicted of drug trafficking and embezzlement. Reports also tell of the executions - mostly by firing-squad - of common criminals convicted of crimes such as murder, robbery, rape, drug dealing, smuggling, piracy and vandalism.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}} The country does not publicly release national crime statistics or reports on the levels of crimes.

{{cite web

|url= https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2012humanrightsreport/index.htm?year=2012&dlid=204210

|title= Korea, Democratic People's Republic of

|series = Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012

|publisher= U.S. Department of State

|agency= Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor

|access-date= 25 July 2021

|quote= During the year nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported that public executions continued, but no official statistics were available.

}}

In October 2007 a firing-squad executed a South Pyongan province factory-chief (convicted of making international phone calls from 13 phones he installed in his factory basement) in front of a crowd of 150,000 people in a stadium.{{Cite web |date=2015-03-25 |title=150,000 Witness North Korea Execution of Factory Boss Whose Crime Was Making International Phone Calls |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/150000-witness-north-korea-execution-of-factory-boss-whose-crime-was-making-international-phone-calls |access-date= |website=Fox News}} In another instance, 15 people were publicly executed in 2008 for crossing the border into China.[https://www.amnesty.org.au/news/comments/10245/ Public executions by North Korea is another injustice] {{webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090129235623/http://www.amnesty.org.au/news/comments/10245 |date=January 29, 2009 }}, Amnesty International, March 7, 2008. - "A North Korean official reportedly said that 13 women and two men were shot dead in the town of Onseong in late February 'to send a warning to people', according to South Korean NGO, Good Friends."

In 2007 a UN General Assembly committee adopted a draft resolution, co-sponsored by more than 50 countries, expressing "very serious concern" at reports of widespread human rights violations in North Korea, including public executions. North Korea condemned the draft as inaccurate and biased, but it was still sent to the then 192-member General Assembly for a final vote.{{cite web

|url= http://english.pravda.ru/world/101627-public_execution-0

|title= North Korea resumes public executions

|access-date= December 19, 2007

|date= November 26, 2007

|work= A non-profit organization work towards realization of Human rights and protects crime against humanity

|publisher= English-language version of Pravda

|url-status= live

|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090716232318/http://english.pravda.ru/world/101627-public_execution-0

|archive-date= July 16, 2009

|quote = The report came a week after a U.N. General Assembly committee adopted a draft resolution expressing "very serious concern" at reports of widespread human rights violations in North Korea, including public executions.
The resolution, co-sponsored by more than 50 countries including the United States and many other Western nations, was sent to the 192-member General Assembly for a final vote.
The North has condemned the draft, saying it was inaccurate and biased.

}}

According to Radio Free Asia, in 2011 two people were executed in front of 500 spectators for handling propaganda leaflets that had floated across the border from South Korea, apparently as part of a campaign by former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to tighten ideological control as he groomed his youngest son Kim Jong Un as the eventual successor.{{Cite news |last=Ponnudurai |first=Parameswaran |title=Public Executions over Leaflets |url=http://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/executions-01242011112449.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110125063042/http://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/executions-01242011112449.html |archive-date=January 25, 2011 |access-date=July 12, 2013 |work=Radio Free Asia |quote=Two North Koreans have been executed in front of 500 spectators for handling propaganda leaflets floated across the border from South Korea, reports say. The executions were carried out on January 3 and appeared to be part of a campaign by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il's regime to tighten ideological control as it grooms his youngest son as eventual successor.}}

In June 2019 a Seoul-based human rights group, the Transitional Justice Working Group, claimed to have identified at least 323 sites in North Korea, where public executions took place.{{cite web|url=https://en.tjwg.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2019-Report-Mapping-the-Fate-of-the-Dead-Killings-and-Burials-in-North-Korea.pdf|title=Mapping the fate of the dead: killings and burials in North Korea|work=Transitional Justice Working Group|access-date=10 June 2019|archive-date=June 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190611233833/https://en.tjwg.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2019-Report-Mapping-the-Fate-of-the-Dead-Killings-and-Burials-in-North-Korea.pdf|url-status=dead}} The group said the most common charges for execution ranged from "stealing copper and livestock" to "anti-state" activities and illegally crossing into China.

{{cite web

|url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/11/hundreds-of-north-korean-execution-sites-identified-says-rights-group

|title= Hundreds of North Korean execution sites identified, says rights group

|work= The Guardian|date= June 11, 2019

|access-date= 11 June 2019

}}

{{main|Prisons in North Korea}}

File:Map of the location of political prison camps (kwanliso) and ordinary prison camps (kyohwaso) in North Korea (United Nations, 2014).pdf) and ordinary prison camps (kyohwaso) in North Korea. Map issued in 2014 by the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the DPRK, under the United Nations Human Rights Council.]]

According to many organizations, the conditions in North Korean prisons are harsh and life-threatening.{{cite web|title=2009 Human Rights Report: Democratic People's Republic of Korea |work=U.S. Department of State |url=https://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/eap/135995.htm |access-date=May 4, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528051712/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/eap/135995.htm |archive-date=May 28, 2010 }} Additionally, prisoners are subjected to torture and inhumane treatment by North Korean authorities.{{cite news |author=Kristof |first=Nicholas D. |date=July 14, 1996 |title=Survivors Report Torture in North Korea Labor Camps |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/14/world/survivors-report-torture-in-north-korea-labor-camps.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110826061502/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/14/world/survivors-report-torture-in-north-korea-labor-camps.html |archive-date=August 26, 2011 |access-date=August 3, 2012 |newspaper=The New York Times}}{{cite web|title=North Korea: Torture, death penalty and abductions |work=Amnesty International |date=August 2, 2009 |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA24/003/2009/en |access-date=May 4, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100423163924/http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA24/003/2009/en |archive-date=April 23, 2010 }} Public and secret executions of prisoners, including children, especially in cases of escape attempts,{{cite web | title=White paper on human rights in North Korea 2009 (page 74–75)| work=Korea Institute for National Unification| url=http://www.kinu.or.kr/2009/0727/white2009_e.pdf | access-date=May 4, 2010}} and forced abortions and infanticides{{cite web|title=The Hidden Gulag – Part Five: Summary of torture and infanticide information (page 148 – 154) |work=The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea |url=http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf |access-date=September 14, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150313045221/http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf |archive-date=March 13, 2015 }} often occur. The mortality rate is very high, because many prisoners die of starvation,{{cite magazine|title=Running Out of the Darkness |magazine=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1186569,00.html |access-date=October 31, 2006 |date=April 24, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061125031918/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C1186569%2C00.html |archive-date=November 25, 2006 }} illnesses,{{cite news|title=N. Korean Defectors Describe Brutal Abuse |work=The Associated Press |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/n-korean-defectors-describe-brutal-abuse/ |access-date=December 16, 2008 |date=October 29, 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090515144943/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/29/world/main4555614.shtml?source=RSSattr%3DWorld_4555614 |archive-date=May 15, 2009 }} work accidents, or torture.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

The North Korean government flatly denies all allegations of human rights violations in prison camps, claiming that it is prohibited by criminal procedure law,{{cite web|title=Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Democratic People's Republic of Korea (page 7) |work=United Nations Human Rights Council |url=http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session6/KP/A_HRC_13_13_PRK_E.pdf |access-date=May 11, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721182559/http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session6/KP/A_HRC_13_13_PRK_E.pdf |archive-date=July 21, 2011 }} but former prisoners testify that there are completely different rules in the prison camps.{{cite web|title=Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (page 8) |work=Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR) and Korean Bar Association (KBA) |url=http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session6/KP/NKHR-KBA_UPR_S06_2009.pdf |access-date=May 11, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721182315/http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session6/KP/NKHR-KBA_UPR_S06_2009.pdf |archive-date=July 21, 2011 }} The North Korean government has failed to provide any information on prisoners or prison camps or even to allow access to any human rights organization.{{cite web|title=Report by the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Theo van Boven: Democratic People's Republic of Korea |work=United Nations/Derechos Human Rights |url=http://derechos.org/nizkor/torture/vanboven/prk.html |access-date=May 11, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906121240/http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/torture/vanboven/prk.html |archive-date=September 6, 2008 }}

Lee Soon-ok gave detailed testimony on her treatment in the North Korean prison system to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002. In her statement she said, "I testify that most of the 6,000 prisoners who were there when I arrived in 1987 had quietly perished under the harsh prison conditions by the time I was released in 1992."{{cite web|title=Testimony of Ms. Soon Ok Lee, North Korean prison camp survivor |work=United States Senate Hearings |url=http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=292&wit_id=665 |access-date=November 11, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101109021741/http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=292&wit_id=665 |archive-date=November 9, 2010 }} Many other former prisoners, such as Kang Chol-hwan, have given detailed testimonies on the human rights crimes in North Korean prison camps.

According to the testimony of former camp guard Ahn Myong Chol of Camp 22, the guards are trained to treat the detainees as sub-human or slaves. He gave an account of children in one of the camps fighting over who got to eat a kernel of corn retrieved from cow dung.National Geographic: Inside North Korea, aired on the History Channel in 2006, accessed on Netflix July 22, 2011

The North Korean prison camp facilities can be divided into large internment camps for political prisoners (Kwan-li-so in Korean) and reeducation prison camps (Kyo-hwa-so in Korean).{{cite web|title=The Hidden Gulag – Part Two: Kwan-li-so political panel-labor colonies (page 25 – 82), Part Three: Kyo-hwa-so long-term prison-labor facilities (page 82 – 110) |work=Committee for Human Rights in North Korea |url=http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf |access-date=November 11, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150313045221/http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf |archive-date=March 13, 2015 }}

On October 19, 2020, Human Rights Watch released an 88-page report "'Worth Less Than an Animal': Abuses and Due Process Violations in Pretrial Detention in North Korea", detailing the torture, abuse and unhygienic conditions of detainees in North Korea pretrial detention centers. Revealing the opaque criminal justice system, the report highlighted the "arbitrary, violent, cruel and degrading" investigation system of North Korea.{{cite web|url= https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/10/19/north-korea-horrific-pretrial-detention-system |title= North Korea: Horrific Pretrial Detention System |access-date= 19 October 2020 |website= Human Rights Watch|date= October 19, 2020 }}

{{Further|Kwalliso|Prisons in North Korea}}

{{location map+|North Korea|caption = Political prison camps in North Korea| float=right|places={{location map~|North Korea|label=Bukchang| position=bottom|lat=39.446164|long=126.163223 |region=KP-02}}

{{location map~|North Korea|label=Chongjin| position=left|lat=41.833486|long=129.725597|region=KP-09}}

{{location map~|North Korea|label=Hoeryong| position=left|lat=42.537967|long=129.935517|region=KP-09}}

{{location map~|North Korea|label=Hwasong| position=left|lat=41.268505|long=129.391211|region=KP-09}}

{{location map~|North Korea|label=Kaechon| position=left|lat=39.571086|long=126.055466|region=KP-02}}

{{location map~|North Korea|label=Yodok|position=right|lat=39.674163|long=126.851406|region=KP-08}}}}

The internment camps for people accused of political offenses or denounced as politically unreliable are run by the state security department. Political prisoners were historically subjected to the family responsibility principle, which meant that the immediate family members of a convicted political criminal were also regarded as political criminals and interned. However, since 1994 there has been a near-abandonment of this family responsibility principle.{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2014-10-13/life-beyond-north-korea-s-gulag |title=The Surprising News From North Korea's Prisons |first=Andrei |last=Lankov |publisher=Bloomberg |date=October 13, 2014 |access-date=May 1, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803131720/https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2014-10-13/life-beyond-north-korea-s-gulag |archive-date=August 3, 2017}}{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/10/AR2008121003855.html |title="Escapee Tells of Horrors in North Korean Prison Camp", Washington Post, December 11, 2008 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 11, 2008 |access-date=August 23, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101021181115/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/10/AR2008121003855.html |archive-date=October 21, 2010 }}

The internment camps are located in central and northeastern North Korea. They comprise many prison labor colonies in secluded mountain valleys, completely isolated from the outside world.{{cite news|last=McDonald |first=Mark |title=North Korean Prison Camps Massive and Growing |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/world/asia/05korea.html |access-date=May 5, 2011 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 4, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110505222059/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/world/asia/05korea.html |archive-date=May 5, 2011 }} The total number of prisoners is estimated to be 80,000 to 120,000.{{UN doc |docid=A/HRC/25/63 |body=Human Rights Council |session=25 |title=Report of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea |page=12 (paragraph 61)|date=February 7, 2014|accessdate=August 4, 2016}} The Yodok and Bukchang camps are separated into two sections: one for political prisoners in lifelong detention, the other similar to re-education camps where prisoners are serving long-term sentences with the vague hope that they will eventually be released.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

The prisoners are forced to perform hard and dangerous slave labor with primitive means in mining and agriculture. The food rations are very small, so the prisoners are constantly on the brink of starvation. In combination with the hard work, this leads to huge numbers of prisoners dying. An estimated 40% of prisoners die from malnutrition.{{cite news |date=May 4, 2011 |title=Report: Torture, starvation rife in North Korea political prisons |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/04/north.korea.amnesty/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141228194113/http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/04/north.korea.amnesty/ |archive-date=December 28, 2014 |work=CNN}} Moreover, many prisoners are crippled from work accidents, frostbite, or torture. There is a rigid punishment system in the camp. Prisoners who work too slowly or do not obey an order are beaten or tortured. In cases of stealing food or attempting to escape, the prisoners are publicly executed.

Initially, there were around twelve political prison camps, but some were merged or closed (e.g. Onsong prison camp, Kwan-li-so No. 12 was closed down following an unsuccessful riot in 1987 where around 5,000 prisoners were killed{{cite web|url=http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200212/200212110038.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017123327/http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200212/200212110038.html |archive-date=October 17, 2007 |title="5000 Prisoners Massacred at Onsong Concentration Camp in 1987", Chosun Ilbo, December 11, 2002 |access-date=December 18, 2012}}). Today there are six political prison camps in North Korea (see below). Most of the camps are documented in testimonies of alleged former prisoners, and coordinates and satellite images of all are available.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

The South Korean journalist Kang Chol-hwan is a former prisoner of Yodok Political Prison Camp and has written a book, The Aquariums of Pyongyang, about his time in the camp.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-apr-07-la-fg-north-korea-gulags8-2010apr08-story.html |title=North Korea gulag spurs a mission |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=April 7, 2010 |access-date=August 23, 2010 |first=John M. |last=Glionna |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100626012431/http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/07/world/la-fg-north-korea-gulags8-2010apr08 |archive-date=June 26, 2010 }} The International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea (ICNK) estimates that over 10,000 people die in North Korean prison camps every year.{{cite web|title=Human Rights Groups Call on UN Over N.Korea Gulag |work=The Chosunilbo, April 4, 2012 |url=http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/04/04/2012040401146.html |access-date=April 10, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405230944/http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/04/04/2012040401146.html |archive-date=April 5, 2012 }}

{{Main|Kwalliso}}

{{location map+|North Korea|caption = Reeducation camps in North Korea
(10 out of around 15–20)|float=right|places={{location map~|North Korea|label= Kaechon|position=bottom| lat=39.708276 | long=125.923276|region=KP-02}}

{{location map~|North Korea|label= Chongori|position=left| lat=42.209925 | long=129.753658|region=KP-09}}

{{location map~|North Korea|label= Sinuiju| position=right | lat=40.06138 | long=124.410145|region=KP-03 }}

{{location map~|North Korea|label= Kangdong | position=right | lat=39.0087801 | long=126.1536884|region=KP-01 }}

{{location map~|North Korea|label= Danchon| position=left | lat=40.9 | long=128.8|region=KP-08 }}

{{location map~|North Korea|label= Oro | position=top | lat=40.02 | long=127.46|region=KP-08 }}

{{location map~|North Korea|label= Hoeryong | position=left | lat=42.7 | long=129.8|region=KP-09 }}

{{location map~|North Korea|label= Hamhung | position=right | lat=39.9 | long=127.53|region=KP-08 }}

{{location map~|North Korea|label= Chungsan | position=bottom | lat=39.1 | long=125.37|region=KP-02 }}

{{location map~|North Korea|label= Yongdam | position=right | lat=39.36 | long=127.26|region=KP-07 }}}}

The re-education camps for criminals are run by the interior ministry. There is a fluent passage between common crimes and political crimes, because people who get on the bad side of influential partisans are often denounced on the basis of false accusations. They are then sent to detention centers, threatened with brutal torture and forced to make false confessions (Lee Soon-ok, for example, had to kneel down whilst being showered with water at icy temperatures with other prisoners, of whom six did not survive{{cite web|url=http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=292&wit_id=665 |title=United States Senate Hearings: Testimony of Ms. Soon Ok Lee, June 21, 2002 |publisher=Judiciary.senate.gov |access-date=August 23, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100807101730/http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=292&wit_id=665 |archive-date=August 7, 2010 }}) and are then condemned in a brief show trial to a long-term prison sentence. In North Korea, political crimes are greatly varied, from border crossing to any disturbance of the political order, and they are rigorously punished.{{cite web|url=http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-9648.html |title=North Korea – The Judiciary |publisher=Country-data.com |access-date=August 23, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609191029/http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-9648.html |archive-date=June 9, 2011 }} Due to the dire prison conditions with hunger and torture,{{cite news |url=http://www.dailynk.com/english/sub_list.php?cataId=nk02600 |title=Brutality beyond belief: Crimes against humanity in North Korea |newspaper=Daily NK |access-date=August 23, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100724014844/http://www.dailynk.com/english/sub_list.php?cataId=nk02600 |archive-date=July 24, 2010 }} a large percentage of prisoners do not survive their sentence term.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

The re-education camps are large prison building complexes surrounded by high walls. The plight of the prisoners is quite similar to that in the political prison camps. They have to perform slave labor in prison factories. If they do not meet the work quota, they are tortured and (at least in Kaechon camp) confined for many days to special prison cells, too small to stand up or lie full-length in.

In distinction from the internment camps for political prisoners, the re-education camp prisoners are instructed ideologically after work and are forced to memorize speeches of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and to undergo self-criticism rites. Many prison inmates are guilty of common crimes penalized also in other countries, but often they were committed out of economic necessity, e.g. illegal border crossing, stealing food or illegal trading.{{cite book|title=Prisoners in North Korea Today |chapter=6.2.2 Trial, Charge and Sentence|pages=363–367|publisher=Database Center for North Korean Human Rights |date=July 15, 2011 |chapter-url=http://nkdb.org/bbs1/data/publication/Prisoners_in_North_Korea_Today.pdf |access-date=May 23, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305151841/http://nkdb.org/bbs1/data/publication/Prisoners_in_North_Korea_Today.pdf |archive-date=March 5, 2014 }}

There are around 15–20 reeducation camps in North Korea.{{cite web|title=Hidden Gulag (2003 edition) – Satellite imagery: Selected North Korean Prison Camp Locations (page 89) |work=The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea |url=http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/The_Hidden_Gulag.pdf |access-date=September 14, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130314041055/http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/The_Hidden_Gulag.pdf |archive-date=March 14, 2013 }}

Two camps are documented with coordinates, satellite images and testimonies of former prisoners.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Other camps are documented with short testimonies of people who claim to be former prisoners.{{cite web|title=The Hidden Gulag – Part Three: Kyo-hwa-so Long-Term Prison-Labor Facilities (p. 82 – 110) |work=The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea |url=http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf |access-date=September 14, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150313045221/http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf |archive-date=March 13, 2015 }}

• Kyo-hwa-so No. 3 Sinuiju (c. 2,500 prisoners) in North Pyongan
• Kyo-hwa-so No. 4 Kangdong (c. 7,000 prisoners) in South Pyongan
• Kyo-hwa-so No. 8 Yongdam (c. 3,000 prisoners) in Kangwon
• Kyo-hwa-so No. 11 Chungsan (c. 3,300 prisoners) in South Pyongan{{cite web|url=http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/03/23/2010032300364.html |title="N.Korea's Worst Concentration Camp Exposed", Chosun Ilbo, March 23, 2010 |publisher=The Chosun Ilbo |date=March 23, 2010 |access-date=August 23, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100826015138/http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/03/23/2010032300364.html |archive-date=August 26, 2010 }}
• Kyo-hwa-so No. 15 Hamhung (c. 500 prisoners) in South Hamgyong
• Kyo-hwa-so No. 22 Oro (c. 1,000 prisoners) in South Hamgyong
• Kyo-hwa-so No. 77 Danchon (c. 6,000 prisoners) in South Hamgyong
• Kyo-hwa-so Hoeryong (c. 1,500 prisoners) in North Hamgyong

Further camps are mentioned as being in Taehŭng and Sŭnghori (already closed).{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

The South Korean human rights activist Lee Soon-ok has written a book (Eyes of the Tailless Animals: Prison Memoirs of a North Korean Woman) about her time in a camp and testified before the US Senate.{{cite web|url=http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=292&wit_id=665 |title=US Senate Hearings: Testimony of Ms. Soon Ok Lee, June 21, 2002 |publisher=Judiciary.senate.gov |access-date=August 23, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100807101730/http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=292&wit_id=665 |archive-date=August 7, 2010 }}

In October 2014, North Korea admitted for the first time that it had labor camps. Choe Myong Nam, a North Korean foreign ministry spokesperson said "Both in law and practice, we do have reform through labor detention camps – no, detention centers – where people are improved through their mentality and look on their wrongdoings".{{Cite news |author=Anna |first=Cara |date=October 7, 2014 |title=North Korea Acknowledges Labor Camps for 1st Time |url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/UN_UNITED_NATIONS_NORTH_KOREA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-10-07-16-39-41 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009084517/http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/UN_UNITED_NATIONS_NORTH_KOREA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-10-07-16-39-41 |archive-date=October 9, 2014 |access-date=October 7, 2014 |agency=Associated Press}}

{{main|North Korean abductions of South Koreans|North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens}}

In the decades after the Korean War, there were reports that North Korea had abducted many foreign nationals, mainly South Korean and Japanese people. There are many testimonies that nine European citizens and several U.S. citizens have also been abducted to North Korea."Les captives étrangèresde la Corée du Nord". Le Figaro. Retrieved June 3, 2015. For years, these were dismissed as conspiracy theories even by many of the regime's critics; however, in September 2002, Kim Jong-Il partially acknowledged to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi the involvement of North Korean "special institutions" in the kidnapping of Japanese citizens during a period of six years from 1977 to 1983."ABDUCTION - An Unforgivable Crime - - Japanese Government Internet TV". Japanese Government Internet TV. Retrieved June 3, 2015. Kim officially admitted to abducting 13 Japanese citizens out of 17 Japanese the Japanese government accused North Korea of abducting. He stated that those responsible had been punished.{{cite web | title=North Korea trip not a winner in Japan | work=Asia Times | url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/DI19Dh03.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021020223309/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/DI19Dh03.html | url-status=unfit | archive-date=October 20, 2002 | access-date=January 26, 2006 }}

Five surviving victims were allowed to visit Japan and decided not to return to North Korea. For eight more Japanese abductees, officials claimed deaths caused by accidents or illnesses; Japan says this leaves two still unaccounted for, and says that what North Korea claimed were the ashes of Megumi Yokota were not hers.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Regardless of the admission to Prime Minister Koizumi, the North Korean government continues to deny the kidnappings of other foreign nationals and refuses any cooperation to investigate further cases of suspected abductions. In 2017, a former Japanese abductee Hasuike publicly stated that "Japan's prime minister needs to visit North Korea again", urging Prime Minister Shinzō Abe to visit North Korea to discuss the continuing abduction issues between North Korea and Japan by taking the advantage of the Pyongyang Declaration.{{cite web|last=Ji|first=Ji|title=Former Abductee Hasuike Urges Abe to Visit North Korea to Discuss Abduction Issue|work=The Japan Times|date=October 9, 2017|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/10/09/national/politics-diplomacy/former-abductee-hasuike-urges-abe-visit-north-korea-discuss-abduction-issue/#.Wdu4JxOCzdQ|access-date=May 11, 2019|archive-date=October 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009140420/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/10/09/national/politics-diplomacy/former-abductee-hasuike-urges-abe-visit-north-korea-discuss-abduction-issue/#.Wdu4JxOCzdQ|url-status=dead}}

Officials of the South Korean government claim that 486 South Koreans, mostly fishermen, are believed to have been abducted since the end of the Korean War. Advocates and family members have accused the government of doing little or nothing to gain their freedom.{{cite web|title=Daughter Calls for Abducted Father's Return From North |work=The Korea Times |url=http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200510/kt2005101917570810510.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120629172156/http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200510/kt2005101917570810510.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 29, 2012 |access-date=January 26, 2006 }} South Korea officially recognized 480 South Korean abductees to be held in North Korea.{{Cite web|url=http://www.sukuukai.jp/narkn/|title=Useful Materials|website=www.sukuukai.jp|access-date=2019-06-19}} Even after the Korean War, North Korea is accused of abducting South Koreans such as Kim Dong-shik, who was abducted on January 16, 2000 and Jin Gyeong-suk, a North Korean defector to South Korea who was abducted on August 8, 2004.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

In November 2013, a civic group, the Korean War Abductees Family Association (KWAFA), consisting of family members of South Koreans abducted to North Korea during the Korean War (1950–53), said it will take North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for unlawful detention of the abductees and failure to address related abuses.[https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2013/11/116_146479.html "Civic group to file suit with ICC against NK leader"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160609215954/https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2013/11/116_146479.html |date=June 9, 2016 }}, Chung Min-uck, The Korea Times, November 18, 2013. Retrieved November 18, 2013.

Examples of non-Korean or non-Japanese people abducted by North Korea include Doina Bumbea, from Romania,{{cite news|url=https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/400381/n-korea-kidnap-victim-brother-wants-pyongyang-to-come-clean|title=N. Korea kidnap victim's brother wants Pyongyang to come clean|newspaper=Bangkok Post|date=17 March 2014}} and Anocha Panjoy, from Thailand, as well as several others.{{Clarify|reason=Who are these other people?|date=May 2023}}

{{See also|Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea|label 1=2014 United Nations Commission of Inquiry report|List of fact-finding reports on human rights in North Korea}}

Many countries and multilateral organizations have criticized North Korea for its alleged human rights abuses.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}} Since 2005, the United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution every year to condemn the human rights situation in North Korea.{{cite web|url=http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2016/10/28/77/0301000000AEN20161028002900315F.html |title=Resolution on N. Korea's human rights violations presented to U.N. committee |work=Yonhap News Agency |agency=Yonhap |date=October 28, 2016 |access-date=January 21, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161029114651/http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2016/10/28/77/0301000000AEN20161028002900315F.html |archive-date=October 29, 2016 }}

Multiple countries have been critical of the allegations made against North Korea. China's delegation to the United Nations said that North Korea has made considerable progress in protecting human rights. Sudan's government said that instead of criticizing the country, there should be support by the international community for North Korea's efforts to protect human rights. Venezuela's delegation to the United Nations asserted that the allegations made by UN observers against North Korea are based on flawed criteria and are not credible.{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/gashc3840.doc.htm |title=Palestinian Self-Determination, Human Rights In Democratic People's Republic Of Korea Addressed In Texts Approved By Third Committee |publisher=United Nations |date=November 17, 2005 |access-date=August 23, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110208162742/http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/gashc3840.doc.htm |archive-date=February 8, 2011 }} Cuba's delegation to the United Nations said that the body's claims made against North Korea are politically motivated and seek to impose isolation and pressure on the country, in violation of the Human Rights Council's stated principles.{{cite web|url=http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=9942&LangID=E |title=DisplayNews |publisher=Ohchr.org |date=March 25, 2010 |access-date=August 23, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100904135221/http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=9942&LangID=E |archive-date=September 4, 2010 }}

The U.S. and Japan have passed laws and created envoys in order to bring this issue to public attention. The U.S. initially passed the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 in October of that year, and reauthorized the law in 2008. It created an office at the State Department focused on North Korean human rights, run originally by Special Envoy Jay Lefkowitz.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}

The NGO Freedom House has ranked North Korea at the very bottom of its "Freedom in the World" ratings since the survey was first launched in 1973.[http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/Worst%20of%20the%20Worst%202012%20final%20report.pdf The Worst of the Worst: The World's Most Repressive Societies] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607174811/http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/Worst%20of%20the%20Worst%202012%20final%20report.pdf |date=June 7, 2013 }}. Freedom House, 2012. In Freedom House's 2013 survey, North Korea was one of nine countries that earned a 7 (its lowest rating) for both political rights and civil liberties.[http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/Country%20Status%20and%20Ratings%2C%201973-2013%20%28FINAL%29_0.xls Country ratings] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005050405/http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/Country%20Status%20and%20Ratings%2C%201973-2013%20%28FINAL%29_0.xls |date=October 5, 2013 }} for 2013 Freedom in the World survey Its current report on North Korea categorizes it as "Not Free", and states that there are virtually no organizations independent of state control.[https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2015/north-korea Freedom in the World 2015 – North Korea] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910033734/https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2015/north-korea |date=September 10, 2015 }}, Freedom House. North Korea has charged that those who make allegations about human rights in the country are interfering with the country's internal affairs and trying to force down their values.{{cite web|url=http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/1998/9802/news02/09.htm |title=Past news |publisher=Kcna.co.jp |access-date=August 23, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609183754/http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/1998/9802/news02/09.htm |archive-date=June 9, 2011 }}

Other international NGOs have been established with the purpose of relieving the human rights abuses faced by North Koreans. The North Korea Strategy Center works to provide people living in North Korea with access to videos, music, and other external media that promotes human rights and democracy.{{cite magazine|last1=Greenburg |first1=Andy |title=The plot to free North Korea with smuggled episodes of 'Friends' |url=https://www.wired.com/2015/03/north-korea/ |magazine=Wired |access-date=March 9, 2015 |date=March 1, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150310025823/http://www.wired.com/2015/03/north-korea |archive-date=March 10, 2015 }} An organization called Liberty in North Korea collects charitable donations in order to perform rescue missions for defectors attempting to escape North Korea through China.{{cite web|title=Refugee Rescues |url=http://www.libertyinnorthkorea.org/rescue-refugees/ |website=Liberty in North Korea |access-date=March 9, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150313043856/http://www.libertyinnorthkorea.org/rescue-refugees/ |archive-date=March 13, 2015 }} Still other organizations focus on assisting defectors after they arrive in Southeast Asia, South Korea, the United States, or other destinations. Saejowi, a Seoul-based NGO, aims to provide medical support to defectors in South Korea, because they are often unable to understand the treatment options available to them.{{cite web |url=https://www.nmc.or.kr/html/nmc/report.asp?flag=READ&seq=2832 |title=Improving Cooperation and Medical Treatment for North Korean Refugees |publisher=National Medical Center |language=ko |date=July 15, 2013 |access-date=March 9, 2015 |archive-date=March 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308235116/https://www.nmc.or.kr/html/nmc/report.asp?flag=READ&seq=2832 |url-status=dead }}

With the exception of the international abductions issue regarding Japanese, Americans, and South Koreans, which it says has been fully resolved, North Korea strongly rejects all reports of human rights violations and accuses the defectors of promoting only an anti-North agenda.[http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2005/200512/news12/21.htm#7 Ridiculous Move of S. Korean Pro-U.S. Elements under Fire] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080606042530/http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2005/200512/news12/21.htm |date=June 6, 2008 }}, KCNA, December 20, 2005.

On September 9, 2020, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Seoul published a report stating that voices of citizens of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, including women, are being curbed. It urged the United States and South Korea to raise concerns about North Korean human rights abuses, whenever the negotiations with North Korea resumes.{{cite web|url=https://www.voanews.com/a/east-asia-pacific_dont-ignore-north-korea-human-rights-un-says/6195598.html|title=Don't Ignore North Korea Human Rights, UN Says|access-date=8 September 2020|website=Voice of America|date=September 8, 2020 }}

In July 2024, North Korea's increasing alliance with Russia underscores the importance for South Korea, as a U.N. Security Council member, to prioritize human rights in talks about North Korea's security threats. Given the Security Council's current impasse, South Korea should advocate in the U.N. General Assembly to connect North Korea's human rights violations with its weapons program, building on the April 2024 resolution that heightened scrutiny of North Korea’s human rights record.{{cite news|last=Yoon |first=Lina |title=Put North Korea's Human Rights Issues Front and Center |date=1 July 2024 |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/07/02/put-north-koreas-human-rights-issues-front-and-center |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240705110930/https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/07/02/put-north-koreas-human-rights-issues-front-and-center |archive-date=5 July 2024 |access-date=6 July 2024}}

Estimates based on the North Korean census suggest that 240,000 to 420,000 people died as a result of the North Korean famine and that excess mortality during the whole period 1993 to 2008 was between 600,000 and 850,000.{{cite journal|last1=Spoorenberg|first1=Thomas|last2=Schwekendiek|first2=Daniel|title=Demographic Changes in North Korea: 1993–2008|journal=Population and Development Review|volume=38|issue=1|pages=133–158|date=March 2012|quote=According to the results of the population reconstruction and our counterfactual population projections, the famine caused between 240,000 and 420,000 total excess deaths—lower than the previous estimate of 600,000–1 million; and the human costs of the deteriorating living conditions between 1993 and 2008 may be estimated as 600,000 to 850,000 total excess deaths attributable to economic decline in the post‐Cold war era.|doi=10.1111/j.1728-4457.2012.00475.x|hdl=10.1111/j.1728-4457.2012.00475.x|hdl-access=free}} The famine has been described as the result of the economic policies of the North Korean government{{Cite book |last1=Haggard |first1=Stephan |title=Famine in North Korea |last2=Noland |first2=Marcus |last3=Sen |first3=Amartya |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2009 |pages=209}} or as deliberate "terror-starvation".Rosefielde, Stephen (2009), Red Holocaust, Routledge, p. 109. Co-author of The Black Book of Communism Pierre Rigoulot estimates 100,000 executions, 1.5 million deaths in concentration camps and 500,000 deaths from famine, reaching a total of 2.1 million victims (not counting 1.3 million Korean soldiers and civilians killed on both sides during the Korean War).{{cite book|author-link=Pierre Rigoulot|last=Rigoulot|first=Pierre|title=The Black Book of Communism|chapter=Crimes, Terror, and Secrecy in North Korea|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1999|isbn=978-0-674-07608-2|pages=547–564|quote=To the 100,000 who have died in Party purges and the 1.5 million deaths in concentration camps must be added at least 1.3 million deaths stemming from the war, which was organized and instigated by the Communists, a war that continues in small but murderous actions, including commando attacks on the South and acts of terrorism; and the uncertain but growing number of direct and indirect victims of malnutrition. Even if we content ourselves with a figure of 500,000 victims of the primary or even secondary effects of malnutrition (including the usual, unverifiable rumors of cannibalism), we end up with an overall figure of more than 3 million victims in a country of 23 million inhabitants that has lived under Communism for fifty years.|title-link=The Black Book of Communism}} During the Korean War the DPRK "liquidated" 29,000 civilians in the first 3 months of occupying South Korea.ROK civilians "liquidated" during 3 months of DPRK occupation; Micheal Clodfelter, Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures, 1500-2000, 2nd ed. (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2002), 726.

• Chosun Journal, an independent non-profit website that links communities for human rights in North Korea.
• Hanvoice, a Canada-based human rights organization that assists North Korean refugees.
• North Korea Uncovered, a comprehensive set of maps of North Korea showing thousands of buildings, monuments, missile-storage facilities, mass graves, secret labor camps, palaces, restaurants, tourist sites, and main roads.
• Seoul Train, a 2004 documentary film that deals with North Korean defectors fleeing through or to China.
• Escape from Camp 14, a book about a North Korean born child and his life under the camp conditions.
• In Order to Live, a memoir published in 2015 that talks about a North Korean girl's journey to freedom. Written by Yeonmi Park, a North Korean defector known for her speech at One Young World 2014 Summit in Dublin, Ireland, the memoir gives a detailed description of the life in North Korea and the process of defection.
• Children of the Secret State, a documentary film that focuses on showing the pitiful lives of North Korean orphans. The film consists of much visual proof of North Korea's humanitarian crisis such as prison camp, famine and malnutrition.{{cite web|title=5 Eye-Opening Documentaries about North Korea|work=Paste|date=May 2, 2017|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/04/5-eye-opening-documentaries-about-north-korea.html|access-date=May 11, 2019|archive-date=May 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190511235314/https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/04/5-eye-opening-documentaries-about-north-korea.html|url-status=dead}} The film was released in 2001 and movie critiques such as Allison Gorman noted that the film "shows ... the gross abuse of power and money to favor the few".{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

{{Portal|North Korea|Freedom of speech|Government}}

• List of fact-finding reports on human rights in North Korea
• Human experimentation in North Korea
• Korean War POWs detained in North Korea
• Kotjebi, a Korean term denoting North Korean homeless children and elderly.
• North Korea's illicit activities
• Human trafficking in North Korea
• Politics in North Korea
• Propaganda in North Korea
• List of foreign nationals detained in North Korea
• Mass killings under communist regimes

{{reflist|30em}}

• Choi Sung Chul: Human Rights and North Korea. Hanyang University, Seoul 1999, {{ISBN|89-86763-05-2}}.
• {{cite book |author=Ji-ho |first=Kim |title=Human Rights |series=Understanding Korea |volume=9 |year=2017 |publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House |location=Pyongyang |isbn=978-9946-0-1639-9 |translator1=Yong-nam |translator-first=Kim |translator2=Chung-hyon |translator-first2=Ri |url=http://www.korean-books.com.kp/en/packages/xnps/download.pg.php?429#.pdf |access-date=September 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170918230320/http://www.korean-books.com.kp/en/packages/xnps/download.pg.php?429#.pdf |archive-date=September 18, 2017 |url-status=dead}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.nknews.org/2013/09/how-human-rights-in-north-korea-are-gradually-improving/|title=How human rights in North Korea are gradually improving|last=Lankov|first=Andrei|work=NK News|date=September 12, 2013}}
• {{cite book |author=Pescali |first=Piergiorgio |title=La nuova Corea del Nord-Come Kim Jong Un sta cambiando il paese |year=2019 |publisher=Castelvecchi Editore |location=Rome |language=it |trans-title=The New North Korea - How Kim Jong Un Is Changing the Country |isbn=9788832826678}}

{{Commons category|Human rights in North Korea}}

Web sites

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20091213110338/http://www.dailynk.com/english/index.php Daily NK] run by the Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights, includes reports citing informers inside North Korea.
• [http://libertyinnorthkorea.org/ Liberty in North Korea], website of a North American-based organization devoted to the North Korean human rights and humanitarian crises.
• [https://www.hrw.org/search/apachesolr_search/North%20Korea?filters=tid%3A145 List of North Korea-related human rights abuse articles and studies], Human Rights Watch.
• [http://en.nknet.org/ Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222151048/http://en.nknet.org/ |date=February 22, 2014 }}, website, based in Seoul, South Korea.
• [http://www.ifex.org/north_korea/ North Korea coverage] at the International Freedom of Expression Exchange.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140208163518/http://www.nkfreedom.org/ North Korea Freedom Coalition], website.
• [https://archive.today/20060321003508/http://www.house.gov/international_relations/nkhra.htm Official materials related to the North Korean Human Rights Act].
• [http://www.hrnk.org/ U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea], website.
• [https://archive.today/20130925110411/http://www.humanrights.go.kr/english/main National Human Rights Commission of Korea], website.

Articles and reports

• [http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/CoIDPRK/Pages/ReportoftheCommissionofInquiryDPRK.aspx United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights] – Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
• [https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2013/country-chapters/north-korea "Country chapter: North Korea"], World report 2013, Human Rights Watch.
• [https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa24/001/2011/en/ North Korea: Political Prison Camps] – Amnesty International document on conditions in North Korean prison camps (May 2011).
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120426032452/http://nkdb.org/bbs1/data/publication/Survey_Report_on_Political_Prisoners_Camp_in_North_Korea_.pdf Survey Report on Political Prisoners' Camps in North Korea (PPC)] – National Human Rights Commission of Korea analysis of political prison camps on the basis of in-depth interviews with North Korean witnesses (December 2009).
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090118050733/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/02/north-korea/oneill-text Escaping North Korea], by Tom O'Neill, National Geographic (February 2009).
• [https://2009-2017.state.gov/s/senk/115268.htm Final Report of Jay Lefkowitz, U.S. Special Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea] (January 2009).
• [http://northkoreanchristians.com/prisonwithoutbars.pdf A prison without bars] – Refugee and defector testimonies of severe violations of freedom of religion or belief in North Korea as reported by U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (March 2008).
• [http://freekorea.us/camps North Korea's Largest Concentration Camps on Google Earth] – Satellite imagery and witness accounts of North Korean political prison and reeducation camps (2006–2008).
• [http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/ConcentrationsInhumanity.pdf Concentrations of inhumanity] – Freedom House analysis of the phenomena of repression associated with North Korea's political labor camps (May 2007).
• [http://docs-eu.livesiteadmin.com/c8880e0f-f6ed-4585-8f09-4e4b6d11e698/north-korea-a-case-to-answer-a-call-to-act.pdf North Korea: A case to answer – a call to act] – Report by Christian Solidarity Worldwide to emphasize the urgent need to end mass killings, arbitrary imprisonment, torture and related international crimes (2007).
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20131026025832/http://www.uscirf.gov/images/stories/pdf/nkwitnesses.pdf Thank you father Kim Il Sung] – Eyewitness accounts of severe violations of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion in North Korea reported by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (November 2005).
• [https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/seoultrain/ "Seoul Train"], at Independent Lens, PBS documentary by Jim Butterworth, Lisa Sleeth, and Aaron Lubarsky, also available as [https://www.pbs.org/itvs/globalvoices/seoultrain.html "Seoul Train"] at Global Voices (2004).

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