hankyoreh

By Choi Hyun-june, staff reporter

The official report on the human rights situation in North Korea, which the UN has been preparing for the past year, was released in Geneva, Switzerland, on Feb. 17. Defining the human rights violations occurring in North Korea as “crimes against humanity,” the report strongly recommended that the perpetrators be brought to trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

However, considering that North Korea is currently isolated from the international community, some analysts believe that the report will be limited in its ability to improve human rights in the North.

Conducting research in South Korea, Japan, the US, and the UK since Mar. 2013, members of the commission carried out their investigation by holding open hearings as well as individual interviews with North Korean refugees and the families of individuals kidnapped by the North. The commissioners also had hoped to visit North Korea, but Pyongyang denied them access.

The investigation explored wide-ranging and institutional human rights violations in North Korea, including violation of the right to food and livelihood, torture, inhumane treatment, arbitrary incarceration, discrimination, violations of the freedoms of expression and movement.

Activists working for North Korean human rights hailed the commission results as showing considerable progress from their initial expectations.

“During the course of the commission’s investigation, researchers seem to have come to a fuller realization of the severity of the human rights situation in North Korea,” said Yun Yeo-sang, director of the Database Center for North Korean Rights. “The information contained in the report is much more advanced than we had originally thought.”

Most importantly, the report defined the human rights violations in North Korea as “crimes against humanity” and called on those responsible to be tried before the ICC. By declaring that the majority of North Korea’s crimes against humanities were committed in line with government policies, the report made it clear that the atrocious human rights situation in North Korea is the responsibility of the state and the government. As a result, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un - the ultimate person in charge of the state and government - cannot be free of responsibility for the human rights violations.

Second, the report called on China - North Korea’s closest and most important ally - protect and stop forcibly repatriating North Korean refugees. Since China (unlike North Korea) is a member of the international community as well as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, it cannot completely ignore the recommendations of the report.

Finally, the report brings into play the concept of “responsibility to protect” (R2P), calling for the international community to intervene in the North Korean human rights situation. It made an appeal for the international community to take responsibility for what is happening in North Korea, on the assumption that the North is unable to protect its people on its own and that the state and government are committing severe human rights violations.

But considering that North Korea is currently isolated from the international community, the actual effect of this human rights report is questionable, some analysts say. The international community has already made several resolutions about the human rights situation in North Korea, with no noticeable result.

After the report’s release, North Korea immediately rejected it as a “political plot” and “a product of politicisation of human rights on the part of the EU and Japan, in alliance with the US hostile policy.”

“The final report is one of the sterner statements made by the UN and other international organizations over the past 17 years, but in order for North Korea to feel pressure from the outside world, it must first be accepted as a member of the international community,” said Hwang Jae-ok, assistant director of the Institute of Peace and Cooperation. The report’s recommendation that South Korea and other countries in the area increase their exchange with North Korea is connected with this.

The report will be presented and officially adopted in the 25th session of the UN Human Rights Council, which is scheduled for Mar. 17.

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