The decision by a U.N. General Assembly committee to condemn North Korea for crimes against humanity this week is historic. It could well lead to the North Korean leadership facing trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), forcing them to confront the numerous accusations made against their isolated regime.
The lengthy Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea identified six groups of victims against whom North Korea had committed crimes against humanity. We explain them below.
1. Inmates of political prison camps.
North Korea denies they exist, but its political prison camps have become notorious around the world in the past few years and accounts of the camps from survivors formed one of the key parts of the committee's report.
While the country has downsized to just four sites in recent years, the committee still estimated there are between 80,000-120,000 people still in the camps, most of whom are never due for release. The system is modeled on the Soviet Union's infamous "Gulag" system, though the United Nations notes "many features of the DPRK camps are even harsher than what could be found in the Gulag camps."
2. Inmates of the ordinary prison system, in particular political prisoners among them.
While the regular prison system isn't quite as bad as the political system, it's still horrific by any standard we know. The report notes that many of the inmates are imprisoned without trial or without any kind of due process. The committee notes that the conditions inside the ordinary prison system can still be so bad that people die:
A former female inmate of Ordinary Prison Camp (kyohwaso) No. 11 at Cheungson described how she was held with 40 to 50 inmates in a cell of approximately 40 square metres in the female section. People could not lie down straight and fights about space were frequent. In winter, it was extremely cold in the cellblock. Inmates could only wash themselves once a month, and everyone had lice. Every month, at least two people from her cell died.
3. Religious believers and others considered to introduce subversive influences.
The U.N. committee's report states that religious North Koreans, in particular Christians, face persecution from the state. While the North Korean state points to a number of state-sanctioned churches as proof of religious tolerance, the committee found that ordinary citizens are not allowed to practice Christianity and that it was treated as a political crime. "It has been compared to a drug, narcotics, a sin, and a tool of Western and capitalist invasion. Christian missionaries are portrayed as the product of USA capitalism and work akin to vampirism," the report notes.
The report notes that there are indications of a "genocide against religious groups, specifically Christians, in particular in the 1950s and 1960s." However, the committee found that it would be impossible to research this possibility without access to North Korean archives.
4. Persons who try to flee the country.
The committee's report found that, in practice, most North Korean citizens are subject to a blanket travel ban. If they break this ban, they risk extreme violence and harsh punishment. Despite this, many do try to flee the country, crossing illegally over to China. The committee noted that guards at the border may operate with a "shoot to kill" policy, and that North Korea's security services have also been accused of traveling into China to abduct North Korean citizens who have made it across.
The report also notes that repatriated citizens are often tortured and kept in inhumane conditions when they return. There have even been cases where pregnant women have been forced to undergo abortions and new-born babies were killed, the committee found.
5. Starving populations.
One of the reasons that people would risk their lives to leave North Korea is simple: They can't get enough food. While food shortages have gotten better since the the mass starvation of the 1990s, which may have led to the death of as many as 2.5 million people, the committee found that starvation was still a major issue in the country. The report sites data from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations that estimated that between 2011 and 2013, 30.9 percent of the population suffered from malnutrition. The report also noted is that what food there was often distributed for political reasons.
6. Persons from other countries who became victims of international abductions and enforced disappearances.
One of the most incredible crimes described by the U.N. committee's report is the practice of abducting foreign nationals, a practice that has its roots in the Korean War but has extended into recent years. In 2002, then-leader Kim Jong Il admitted that his country had also abducted Japanese nationals and taken them to North Korea in the 1970s and '80s. Kim expressed regret for the action, which served espionage and terrorism functions. The U.N. report describes how people were taken:
Kidnappings of nationals on land in Japan mostly occurred in the countryside, near the coast. Agents approach Japan by sea, and landed onshore. Women walking alone were often targeted for the ease at which they could be overcome. The former official cited various methods used to overcome victims. These included surrounding the victims, choking them and/ or tying a bandage soaking in anaesthetic over their mouths before putting them in a sack for transportion to the boat.