The issue of human rights in North Korea has recently seen renewed attention from the international community. The Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, for instance, unanimously passed a North Korean human rights resolution on November 15, calling for referring the situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and punishing those accountable. The resolution is certain to be formally adopted at a plenary General Assembly meeting at the beginning of December. This resolution, which was spearheaded by Japan and the European Union (EU), listed human rights abuses in the North including execution, horrendous condition of political prison camps, compulsory repatriation of defectors and abduction of foreigners, and expressed “very serious concern” at “the exploitation of workers sent abroad from the DPRK to work that reportedly amounted to forced labor” and “the impact of the regime diverting scarce economic resources for nuclear and missile development on its citizens”. Also, the resolution named Kim Jong-un as the most blamed for all crimes against humanity in Pyongyang and asserted that he should be referred to the ICC.
Free North Korean Association in EU hosted the 1st Global North Korea Freedom Week in the capital of Belgium from November 14 to 19. At the special event, which was held right in front of the EU parliament building, paintings and photos satirizing and ridiculing the human rights situation in North Korea were exhibited, and a statement calling for the referral of the North’s leadership to the ICC was issued. During the same period, many other human rights organizations held a mock trial supposing the prosecution of the DPRK leaders and carried out online petitions.
Meanwhile, the North Korean Human Rights Act went into effect on September 4 in Seoul. The bill was passed in the National Assembly in March, and the enforcement ordinance was adopted by the Cabinet in August. According to the Act, the Foundation for Human Rights in North Korea and the Center for Investigation and Documentation on Human Rights in North Korea shall be established, and the ambassador-at-large on North Korean human rights shall be appointed. First of all, the foundation, which is yet to be opened, is aimed to develop policies and propose them to the government to enhance the human rights situation in the North and research on ways to provide humanitarian support. And, the center, which was launched on October 10, is in charge of systematically recording, storing and managing cases of crimes against humanity in Pyongyang based on testimonies of defectors. The officials at the center will make use of the data to investigate, punish and settle violations of human rights in the DPRK after the unification of the two Koreas; therefore, the data keeping activity of the center is expected to prevent the Kim Jong-un regime from carrying out further atrocious crimes. In the same vein, West Germany established Erfassungsstelle (the central record keeping center) in Salzgitter, a town nearby the inner German border, in 1962 and operated it for three decades until the reunification. The center contributed greatly to the enhancement of human rights situation in East Germany by collecting and storing over 40,000 cases of human rights violation in the GDR during the operation. In addition, the ambassador is designated to cooperate with international organizations and foreign governments to promote human rights in North Korea and boost the international community’s interest in the issue.
The global community’s expression of concern over the North’s human rights problems is not new. What is new about the recent outburst of condemnation against the DPRK leadership is that there is an international consensus for action: referring Kim Jong-un and his cronies to the ICC. In fact, global superpowers including the United States, Japan and the EU have already had laws and/or resolutions regarding North Korean human rights in place for several years. Also, Freedom House and Amnesty International, which are both non-governmental organizations, have adopted similar resolutions every year since 1973 and 1989 respectively. In addition, the UN has annually adopted a human rights resolution against the North since 2005, and lately it has strongly contended that the North Korean human rights issue should be sent to the ICC.
For example, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea (COI), which was established in 2013 by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), conducted a comprehensive study on Pyongyang’s infringement of human rights for one year and submitted a report to the UN stating that “North Korea’s leadership is committing appalling human rights abuses against its own citizens with strong resemblances to those committed by the Nazis, and they should be referred to the ICC.” Moreover, Washington submitted “the Report on Human Rights Abuses and Censorship in North Korea” to Congress in compliance with Section 304 (a) of North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2016 (H.R. 757) which went into effect in February, right after the communist regime’s fourth nuclear test and long-range missile launch. The report blacklisted North Korea’s key government figures and departments such as the Organization and Guidance Department of the Workers’ Party, the Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of People’s Security stating that the DPRK continues to commit serious human rights abuses, including forced labor, torture, extrajudicial killings, and remains one of the most repressive media environments in the world. The international community’s concerted efforts demonstrate that it is a matter of the utmost urgency to protect North Korean citizens from the regime and government authorities’ abusive action though promoting respect for human rights in Pyongyang is also vital.
To be sure, the international-level pressure on the regime will not translate into enhanced human rights in the North overnight, and the reasons are as follows: First, the UN Security Council’s approval is needed to refer the Kim Jong-un regime to the ICC, yet two of the Permanent five, namely China and Russia, are unlikely to let it happen. Second, it is improbable for the regime, obsessed with maintaining the Kim dynasty and advancing nuclear programs, to suddenly take keen interest in its citizens’ quality of life or human rights issues. Nevertheless, one thing is clear. Human rights are God-given rights, and they shall never be violated or infringed upon under any circumstances whether they be in North Korea or elsewhere in the world. The good news is this view has been widely shared by the international community. All members of the global community are collectively responsible for reinforcing human rights promotion and protection in the North, and it will be only a matter of time for the DPRK leadership, accountable for horrific crimes against humanity, to be tried before the judge of history and brought to justice.
Kim Tae-woo is chair professor at Dongguk University in Korea.He previously served as the president of Korea Institute for National Unification.