North Korea's new class system”

338 ^ According to Transparency International’s 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index, the DPRK along with Afghanistan and Somalia were the worst performers, scoring just 8 points each and tying for last place at 175th. A country or territory’s score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 - 100, where 0 means that a country is perceived as highly corrupt and 100 means it is perceived as very clean. A country's rank indicates its position relative to the other countries and territories included in the index.

339 ^ CEDAW/C/PRK/1, para. 72.

340 See section III.

341 ^ Park Kyung-ae, “Women and Social Change in South and North Korea: Marxist and Liberal Perspectives”, Women and International Development, Working Paper No. 231, Michigan State University, June 1992, p. 2.

342 ^ Yu Eui-young, Kim Il Sung Works (Pyongyang, Foreign Language Publishing House, 1980), p. 185 as cited in Park Kyung-ae, “Women and Social Change in South and North Korea: Marxist and Liberal Perspectives”, p. 2.

343 ^ Park Kyung-ae, “Women and Revolution in North Korea”, Pacific Affairs, vol. 65, No. 4 (Winter 1992), p. 533.

344 ^ Ibid, 8.

345 ^ Ibid, 9.

346 ^ Ibid, 9.

347 ^ Socialist Constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (1972), article 62.

348 ^ Kim Il-sung, “On Further Developing the Nursing and Upbringing of Children. Speech delivered at the sixth session of the fifth Supreme People’s Assembly”, 29 April 1976.

349 ^ See section IV.A.

350 ^ See section IV.C.

351 KINU, White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea (2013), pp. 382-303; Park Kyung-ae, “Women and Social Change in South and North Korea: Marxist and Liberal Perspectives”, p. 11.

352 ^ Stephen Haggard and Marcus Noland, “Gender in Transition: The Case of North Korea”, World Development, vol. 41 (2012), p. 52.

353 ^ See section IV.C.

354 ^ Citizen’s Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR), “Status of Women’s Rights in the Context of Socio-Economic Changes in the DPRK”, May 2013, p. 31.

355 ^ Louisa Lim, “Out Of Desperation, North Korean Women Become Breadwinners”, National Public Radio, 28 December 2012.

356 ^ Peterson Institute as quoted in Louisa Lim, “Out Of Desperation, North Korean Women Become Breadwinners”, National Public Radio, 28 December 2012.

357 ^ TAP007.

358 ^ Stephen Haggard and Marcus Noland, “Gender in Transition”, pp. 51-66.

359 ^ “Women on bicycles banned again”, Daily NK, 14 January 2013. Available from http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01500&num=10231.

360 ^ Ibid; Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, “Flowers, Guns and Women on Bikes: Briefing Report on the Situation of Women’s Rights in the DPRK”, 2009, p. 17.

361 ^ These restrictions are said to have been repealed in July 2013, however expert evidence suggests the restrictions are still in force outside of Pyongyang.

362 ^ TLC042.

363 ^ TLC013.

364 ^ CEDAW/C/PRK/CO/1.

365 ^ Citizen’s Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, “Status of Women’s Rights in the Context of Socio-Economic Changes in the DPRK”, p. 16.

366 ^ KINU, “Study on the Power Elite of the Kim Jong Un Regime”, (2013), p. 24..

367 ^ Won-woong Lee, “An Observer Report on the UN Human Rights Committee’s Review Session on North Korea’s Second Periodic Report on Human Rights” as cited in KINU, White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea (2013), p. 381.

368 ^ TAP007, TBG030 and TSH052.

369 ^ TBG030.

370 ^ TSH052.

371 ^ Lim Soon-hee, “The Food Crisis and the Changing Roles and Attitudes of North Korean Women”, KINU, 2005, p. 14.

372 ^ Louisa Lim, “Out Of Desperation, North Korean Women Become Breadwinners”, National Public Radio, 28 December 2012.

373 ^ TAP007, TSH020, TSH055, TLC042, TBG028.

374 ^ TBG030.

375 ^ TBG028.

376 ^ TSH020, TSH008, TLC042.

377 ^ Citizen’s Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, “Status of Women’s Rights in the Context of Socio-Economic Changes in the DPRK”, p. 29.

378 ^ TLC042.

379 ^ TSH008.

380 ^ TSH020.

381 ^ Stephen Haggard and Marcus Noland, “Gender in Transition”, p. 51.

382 ^ KINU, White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea (2013), p. 395.

383 ^ TJH044.

384 ^ Lim Soon-hee, “The Food Crisis and the Changing Roles and Attitudes of North Korean Women” (2005), p. 22.

385 ^ See section IV.D.

386 ^ See section IV.C.

387 ^ United Nations Enable, official website of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, “factsheet 2013”.

388 ^ World Health Organization, “Disability in the South­East Asia Region”, 2013. According to Kim Mun-chol, Deputy Chairman of the Chosun Disabled League Central Committee, who led the North Korean sports delegation to the 14^th Paralymics in London in 2012, the total number of persons with disabilities in the DPRK is 5.8 per cent of the population. KINU, White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea (2013), p. 440.

389 ^ A/HRC/WG.6/6/PRK/1, para. 74.

390 ^ Seoul Public Hearing, 22 August 2013, morning (01:36:00). Mr Ji lost his left hand and part of his lower leg after falling from train and being run over by it. After the incident he had trouble accessing coal for food and went to China to find food. Upon his return, he was arrested and held for bringing shame to the DPRK for going to China as a disabled person. He left the DPRK in 2006.

391 ^ TAP007, TAP011.

392 ^ TCC014.

393 ^ EBG002, TBG026.

394 ^ Seoul Public Hearing, 21 August 2013, afternoon (02:34:00).

395 ^ Citizens Alliance on North Korean Human Rights, “Status of Women's Rights in the Context of Socio-Economic Changes in the DPRK”.

396 ^ KINU, White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea (2013), pp. 442-444.

397 ^ TJH004. A former State Security Department official reported rumors of these islands (TJH041). Also, see Citizens Alliance on North Korean Human Rights, “Status of Women's Rights in the Context of Socio-Economic Changes in the DPRK”.

398 On alleged medical experiments, see also section IV.E.6.

399 ^ Submission to the Commission: SUB060. Also,“North Korea's first Paralympian inspires the disabled”, Associated Press, 28 August 2012.

400 ^ A/HRC/WG.6/6/PRK/1.

401 ^ SUB060.

402 ^ TJH041.

403 ^ TGC001.

404 ^ Tokyo Public Hearing, 30 August 2013, morning (02:04:41).

405 ^ For more detail on the impact of discrimination on access to food, see section IV.D.

406 ^ TSH051 explained that people with low songbun cannot go to teachers college because they would be influencing children, but they can go to technical colleges which include medical school.

407 ^ TBG015.

408 ^ E/C.12/1/Add.95.

409 ^ According to TAP001, most people who came from Japan were highly-educated and able to get jobs but would still not get high level positions.

410 ^ Seoul Public Hearing, 22 August 2013, afternoon (00:46:31).

411 ^ TAP011, TLC007.

412 ^ Choe Sang-hun, “North Korea’s Leaders Promise Improvements to Educational System”, New York Times, 25 September 2012.

413 ^ CRC/C/PRK/4, paras. 174-176; A/HRC/WG.6/6/PRK/1, para. 59.

414 ^ TBG030.

415 ^ Charles Robert Jenkins with Jim Frederick, The Reluctant Communist, My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-year Imprisonment in North Korea (Berkeley, University of California Press, 2008), pp. 129, 134-135; TSH054.

416 ^ TBG024.

417 ^ KINU, White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea (2012), p. 364; Kang Chol-hwan in his book, The Aquariums of Pyongyang, (New York, Basic Books, 2001), pp. 63-78, details the change in schooling when he was sent to a political prison camp at the age of nine.

418 ^ TJH026, TAP008.

419 ^ TGC001.

420 ^ TSH051 explained that because of her songbun, no one would approach her to get married. A military doctor from Pyongyang came to see her on an arranged blind date and after several dates they were supposed to get engaged, but the engagement was called off when he found out about her songbun. It was a very embarrassing time, with the witness thinking that she was never going to be married. In the DPRK, songbun comes first, the witness said.

421 ^ DPRK Constitution, articles 56 and 72.

422 ^ TSH051, TSH004.

423 ^ TSH051.

424 ^ Citizen’s Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, “Status of Women’s Rights in the Context of Socio-Economic Changes in the DPRK”, p. 37.

425 ^ UNICEF, “2003 Country report”, pp. 47-50.

426 ^ WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and The World Bank Estimates, “Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2010”, 2012.

427 ^ The State report for the DPRK’s first Universal Periodic Review in 2009 stated the following: “In the DPRK, equality is fully ensured based on unity and cooperation between persons. No citizen is discriminated on the basis of his/her race, sex, language, religion, education, occupation and position and property, and all citizens exercise equal rights in all fields of the state and public activities” (A/HRC/WG.6/6/PRK/1, para. 32).

428 ^ Discrimination on the basis of religion is addressed in section IV.A.

429 ^ See section III.

430 ^ See section IV.C.

431 ^ For more on Juche, see section III.

432 ^ For more on Kim Il-sung’s cult of personality, see section IV.A.

433 ^ CCPR/C/PRK/2000/2, para. 77.

434 ^ KINU, White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea (2013), pp. 355-356.

435 ^ 2009 Criminal Code of the DPRK as translated by Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights.

436 ^ TSH052.

437 ^ See section IV.B for more on Songbun system.

438 ^ National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK), Seoul Public Hearing, 22 August 2013, afternoon.

439 ^ Submission to the Commission: SUB055, Kim Hi-tae and Peter Jung, The Persecuted Catacomb Christians of North Korea (Seoul, Justice for North Korea, 2013), p. 41.

440 ^ TSH020, TSH030. See section IV.E on political prison camps.

441 ^ Seoul Public Hearing, 22 August 2013, morning (01:18:30).

442 ^ TSH032.

443 ^ TJH015.

444 ^ See Good Friends, “North Korea Today No. 456”, 23 March 2012. Available from http://www.goodfriendsusa.blogspot.ch/2012/05/north-korea-today-no-456-may-23-2012.html.

445 ^ KINU, White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea (2013), p. 351.

446 ^ KINU, White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea (2013), p. 353 states that the average rate of factory operation is only 20-30 per cent due to the deteriorating economy and dilapidated infrastructure.

447 ^ KINU, White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea (2013), p. 235 footnote 187.

448 ^ See section IV.D.

449 ^ TGC004. See section IV.E on ordinary prison camps.

450 ^ Seoul Public Hearing, 23 August 2013, morning. For more on banishment of families with children with disabilities, see section IV.B.

451 ^ TAP011.

452 ^ TAP007.

453 ^ ASIAPRESS started in Tokyo in 1987 as an independent network of journalists in Asia. In 2007 ASIAPRESS began publishing a magazine entitled “Rimjin-gang: News from Inside North Korea” in Korean and Japanese. (After the 4th issue of the Korean edition was released in April 2009, the Seoul staff began publishing on its own and is no longer connected with ASIAPRESS.)

454 ^ TAP024.

455 ^ Seoul Public Hearing, 22 August 2013, morning (00:26:16).

456 ^ Seoul Public Hearing, 22 August 2013, morning (00:31:42).

457 ^ TJH004.

458 ^ TSH020.

459 ^ TSH051.

460 ^ CCPR/C/PRK/2000/2, para. 76.

461 ^ CCPR/C/SR.1944, para. 35.

462 ^ TAP005.

463 ^ KINU, White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea (2013), pp. 22, 234-239.

464 ^ TAP002, TAP005, TBG024; NKDB, “Prisoners in North Korea Today”, 2012, pp. 29-30.

465 ^ KINU, White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea (2013), p. 234.

466 ^ See section IV.A on the Neighbourhood Watch.

467 ^ NHRCK, Seoul Public Hearing, 22 August 2013, afternoon; KINU, White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea (2013), pp. 22, 234-238.

468 ^ TAP008.

469 ^ TSH052.

470 ^ CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.9, paras. 11, 13-14, and 16-17.

471 ^ See also CCPR/CO/72/PRK, para. 19 where the Human Rights Committee concludes that the requirement of a traveller’s permit for domestic travel within the country raises serious questions vis-à-vis ICCPR, article 12 (1).

472 ^ DPRK Immigration Law 1996 as amended in 1999 and 2012, articles 9-12.

473 ^ KINU, White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea (2013), pp. 246-247.

474 ^ NHRCK, Seoul Public Hearing, 22 August 2013, afternoon.

475 ^ TAP002, TSH052.

476 ^ TJH022.

477 ^ See Criminal Code, article 233. Note also article 234 which provides for punishment to those working in the border administration who help illegal border crossers.

478 ^ See section III.E for further on this.

479 ^ The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), Written submission to the hearing before the Congressiona-Executive Commission on China, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, Second Session, “China’s Repatriation of North Korean Refugees”, 5 March 2012, p. 50. Available from http://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/Congressional per cent20Hearings/China_Repatriation_March_5_2012.pdf.

480 ^ The Korean Central News Agency used this term inter alia to describe those persons who fled the DPRK who appeared before the Commission to testify in public hearings. See “N. Korea slams U.N. rights committee, calls defectors ‘human scum’”, Global Post, 27 August 2013. Available from http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/kyodo-news-international/130827/n-korea-slams-un-rights-committee-calls-defectors-huma.

481 ^ “Ministry of People’s Security Vows to Punish Defectors Keen on Escalating Confrontation”, KCNA, 19 June 2013. Available from http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2013/201306/news19/20130619-01ee.html.

482 ^ TJH015, TJH041.

483 ^ TCC014.

484 ^ Seoul Public Hearing, 24 August 2013, morning.

485 ^ TAP005. See also section IV.D.

486 ^ TJH004, TJH041.

487 ^ TJH004.

488 ^ EJH003 indicated that, apart from being driven by larger political reasons, Kim Jong-un may have also attached particular attention to border control since he was assigned to serve as a border guard as a young man.

489 ^ Seoul Public Hearing, 24 August 2013, afternoon.

490 ^ The following table showing the number of DPRK citizens who have entered ROK between 2001 and September 2013:

~2001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013.9TotalMale5655114726244235125716086715897974052507829Female4796328101272959151019772197225818131909109779117820Total104411431282189613822022254828052929240227061502104125649Female ratio46 per cent55 per cent63 per cent67 per cent69 per cent75 per cent78 per cent78 per cent77 per cent75 per cent70 per cent72 per cent76 per cent69 per cent Source: ROK, Ministry of Unification, The Number of North Korean Defectors. Available from http://www.unikorea.go.kr/index.do?menuCd=DOM_000000101007001002.

491 ^ KBA, 2012 White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea, pp. 54, 510-513.

492 ^ Seoul Public Hearing, 22 August 2013, afternoon (with additional details provided by the witness in a confidential interview).

493 ^ TJH017.

494 ^ See section IV.D.

495 ^ See section IV.B.

496 ^ Note that people smugglers are not necessarily involved in the trafficking of persons. The latter requires the element of “exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs” at minimum. See the Palermo Protocol on this.

497 ^ EJH003.

498 ^ KINU, White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea (2013), pp. 44, 459-461. See also International Crisis Group, “Perilous Journey: The Plight of North Koreans in China and Beyond”, 26 October 2009. Available from http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/asia/north-east-asia/north-korea/122-perilous-journeys-the-plight-of-north-koreans-in-china-and-beyond.aspx. The approximate figure of 100,000 was also advanced by the humanitarian organization Life Funds for North Korean Refugees for 2007. Available from http://www.northkoreanrefugees.com/faq.html.

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