North Korea’s nuclear-weapons program is a secondary issue. So is its effort to create intercontinental -range missiles, which flopped spectacularly last week. The North Korea’s nuclear-weapons program is a secondary issue. So is its effort to create intercontinental-range missiles, which flopped spectacularly last week. The problem with North Korea is North Korea itself – the twisted, pathological nature of its dictatorship, which is what makes its possession of nuclear arms so dangerous. A newly released report, “The Hidden Gulag,” has given the world an unprecedented glimpse of the depravity at the core of the regime. It’s been common knowledge for many years – though denied by the dictatorship – that North Korea runs a system of slave camps modeled on Josef Stalin’s gulags.
“The Hidden Gulag,” published by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, documents that system in astounding and damning detail. The report gleans a surprising amount of evidence – including satellite imagery – of what’s happening inside the obsessively secretive nation.
It relies on extensive interviews with survivors of the camps who escaped and miraculously found their way to asylum in South Korea and elsewhere. Totalitarian governments have routinely subjected their victims to unspeakable misery; that’s hardly news. Stalin, Adolf Hitler and their imitators almost inured the world to arbitrary arrests, mass enslavement, starvation, torture and systematic murder. Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans have suffered the same fates for such crimes as having the wrong ideas or knowing too much about South Korea.
North Korea has enlarged even Stalin’s expansive definition of political crimes. One such crime is being the parent or child of a supposed wrongdoer; the first of the country’s dynasty, Kim Il-Sung, had a policy of purging “class enemies for three generations.” Another crime is being a pregnant woman. Perhaps the most shocking passages in “The Hidden Gulag” are descriptions of what happens to women who flee to China, are lured into sexual slavery by human traffickers, then caught by Chinese police and forced back to North Korea. If they return pregnant, some are forced to abort. If the pregnancy is too advanced, the infants may be beaten to death by guards or literally buried alive. There are accounts of newborns being tossed into buckets or bins like garbage and left to die as more are tossed on top of them.
By comparison, Iran and other oppressive governments look positively humane. These crimes against humanity can be ended in only one place: Beijing. The Chinese government stands in the way of any international sanctions that might force change in North Korea. China props up the North Korean regime politically, economically and diplomatically. The Chinese communist party’s complicity in the horrors across the border is a reminder that it remains the organization founded by Mao Zedong, another Stalinist protégé who also presided over murder and slavery on a monumental scale.
In reality, North Korea has been a scourge on human rights that are magnitudes worse than Iran or Iraq (the other two in the "Axis of Evil). There are a couple of differences:
North Korea has had WMD for decades - with a proven nuclear weapons program never found in Iraq and still being developed in Iran. North Korea is a regional threat to South Korea and Japan - rather than to Israel and the pipelines for OIL. We had our chance once before to save millions of lives (from concentration camps and starvation) - numbers that over the last 60 years would overshadow the holocaust - when MacArthur wanted to blow up the bridges over the Yalu River and hold our nuclear arsenal over the heads of China and USSR. Everything else we have done in regards to N. Korea has been hypocrisy in terms of WMD and most certainly in terms of human rights. But even that is nothing new in regards to Korea - President Teddy Roosevelt got a Nobel Peace Prize for settling the War between Russia and Japan, which basically enslaved the Korean people under Imperial Japan for the next 35+ years. The Chinese communist party’s complicity in the horrors across the border is a reminder that it remains the organization founded by Mao Zedong, another Stalinist protege who also presided over murder and slavery on a monumental scale.
Torture, kidnapping and gulags: North Korea’s crimes against humanity.
A North Korean man stands on the rooftop near a North Korean flag as fighter jets fly past during a mass military parade in Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square to celebrate 100 years since the birth of North Korean founder, Kim Il Sung on Sunday, April 15, 2012. 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 North Korean leaders facing trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), forcing them to confront the numerous accusations made against their isolated regime. There is still a long way to go, however. The resolution must pass the Security Council, where Russia and China - two important allies of North Korea - hold veto power. Also, the ICC itself has struggled with problems of legitimacy since it was established in 2002 to prosecute war crimes. Even so, North Korea seems worried, and after Tuesday's decision it offered a belligerent warning that it would conduct further nuclear tests. The reaction reflects a broader trend: In the past few months, the country has used crude insults and a curious charm offensive to try to deflect the U.N. criticism of its human rights offenses.
At one point, it even released a list of the alleged U.S. human rights abuses, in a clear moment of "Whataboutism." The fear emanating from Pyongyang comes from one major factor: the sheer scale and scope of the human rights abuses it stands accused of committing. A year-long U.N. investigation released earlier this year found that they were “without any parallel in the contemporary world." The crimes were so bad that the specially formed Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea compared them to the horrors of Nazi Germany. In the light of backlash and the upcoming decision by the U.N. Security Council, it's worth taking a look back at just how extreme the accusations made against North Korea are.
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. As I will explain them below.
Inmates of political prison camps
A drawing by former prisoner Kwon Hyo Jin depicting life in a political prison camp.
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 and 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 that "many features of the DPRK camps are even harsher than what could be found in the Gulag camps." One particularly horrible concept is “guilt by association," which has meant that generations of families could be locked up for the alleged political crimes of one person. The report noted that three generations could be locked up in some cases. Some prisoners were even born in the camps, and never saw freedom.
One ex-prisoner told the committee: “I was born a criminal and I would die a criminal. That was my fate … Where I lived only two kinds of people existed, the guards who had guns and the people who are inmates wearing uniforms. Inmates were born inmates, so we lived like inmates; that was our fate... Nobody taught us that way but that was all that we could see… so that’s how we lived.""
In these camps, things are especially dire. People are beaten and tortured routinely, and conditions so bad that prisoners are forced to eat rodents to survive. One former inmate told the committee how she fed her young children:
“[The] babies [had] bloated stomachs. [We] cooked snakes and mice to feed these babies and if there was a day that we were able to have a mouse, this was a special diet for us. We had to eat everything alive, every type of meat that we could find; anything that flew, that crawled on the ground. Any grass that grew in the field, we had to eat. That’s the reality of the prison camp.”"
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 meters in the female section. People could not lie down straight and fights about space were frequent. In winter, it was extremely cold in the cell block. Inmates could only wash themselves once a month, and everyone had lice. Every month, at least two people from her cell died. Prisoners can be treated horrifically. The report details some of the sexual abuse seen at one ordinary prison:
According to a former female inmate of [Kyohwaso N. 12 prison], the guards had the prettier among the female inmates sit close to the bars, so that they could grope their breasts. The same witness also knew several women who agreed to sexual contacts with the guards to receive more than the usual starvation rations or other benefits that allowed them to survive. On one occasion, one female inmate spoke about such a sexual contact with others. The guards made her kneel outside covered from head to toe in thick layers of snow, so that she appeared like a grotesque human snowman.
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.
Accounts from North Koreans suggest horrific punishment for those found to be practicing Christianity: Both of Mr A’s sisters were punished severely for their religious belief and activities. One was discovered to be preaching Christianity to a friend and was caught with a Bible resulting in a 13 year sentence in an ordinary prison camp (kyohwaso). The other was caught in China. As a result of the starvation rations and horrendous living conditions, the first sister almost died in prison and only survived after Mr A paid a substantial bribe to free her after three years of confinement. The other sister was labelled a political criminal because it was discovered that she had practiced Christianity in China and had also attempted to flee to the ROK. She was sent to Yodok Camp and was never heard from again.
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.
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. Those who are caught are often made an example of to deter others who might hope to escape. The report recounts one story: Ms Kwon Young-hee spoke to the Commission about her brother who was arrested in China in 1994 for attempting to “defect” from the DPRK. He had gone to China in search of food. As an example to others against committing similar “anti-state” offences, he was tied to the back of a truck which took him to their home town, Musan.
“By the time he reached Musan, his face was covered with blood, his clothes were all torn. And when he fell, they stopped the truck and rushed him to stand up again. At the time my brother was discharged [from the army] for malnutrition, and he was diabetic. My mother tried to treat his diabetes in the hospital so he was diabetic at the time he went to China. … Even when my brother collapsed, the truck would go on and the Bowibu people, when my brother collapsed, would beat my brother up to make him stand up. Musan is a big city but they drove him around Musan city three times so that everybody could see him.”
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 newborn babies were killed, the committee found.
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 2016, 38.9 percent of the population suffered from malnutrition. The report also noted is that what food there was often distributed for political reasons. The lack of food has an especially big effect on children, the report noted:
At the Seoul Public Hearing, Mr Kim Hyuk described the situation in the orphanage where he was placed by his father in 1995. He said that in 1997 “twenty four out of 75 orphans passed away from starvation… internally there was no food subsidized to the orphanages. So what we ate at the time was the remainder of the corn. We dried it and we grinned and turned it into a powder. That’s what we got, but it does not contain any nutrition and because of that, we got constipation…. There was nothing to eat in the orphanage. In 1996 and 1997, the orphanages tried to release as many children as possible because they didn’t have anything to give to the kids. So they thoughts that kids were better off begging in the streets. It would be better than starving to death sitting in the orphanage.
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 2012, then-leader Kim Jong Il admitted that his country had also abducted Japanese nationals and taken them to North Korea in the 1990s and '2000's. 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 anesthetic over their mouths before putting them in a sack for transportion to the boat. Often, those abducted were never heard from again. The U.N. noted the case of Ms Masumoto Rumiko and Mr Ichikawa Shuichi who were abducted from Japan in 1978 and (according to North Korea) subsequently died in North Korea. Masumoto’s brother, Masumoto Teruaki, told the U.N. of his anguish about the kidnapping:
“My family was worried sick about Rumiko. Every single day we prayed that she was alive somewhere. We grieved for a long time, but after a while we stopped talking about it, because every time we did, it reopened the wounds and my mother would start crying again as if it happened yesterday. We tried to get on with our lives, but our smiles were forced. Rumiko was always in our thoughts. We lost the ability to enjoy life at all. The pain of losing a sister I loved has never gone away, so I can only imagine what torment my parents have gone through.”
A number of other nationalities have also been abducted. These people were often kept isolated and denied many freedoms. While the kidnappings appear to have slowed down in the last 15 years, the U.N. found evidence they had not stopped totally. This is just a tiny portion of the U.N. committee's full report, which came out to 372 pages and more than 200,000 words in total, and it only scratches the surface of the depths of the accusations. The North Korean government later released its own human rights report and stated that North Korean citizens enjoyed "world's most advantageous human rights system." The report dismissed the testimonies of the North Korean defectors who had spoken to the U.N. committee, labeling them "riffraff's," "fugitives" and "terrorists."
Inside North Korea's secret gulags: Prisoners strangled to death and others so hungry they ate GRASS in 200-square mile complex for 20,000 inmates. A former guard who escaped the regime has described shocking scenes; He saw one inmate get throttled with a rubber cord and thrown into a pit; Prisoners were forced to eat rats, snakes and even ants to stay alive; Other guards even boasted about the sadistic execution methods they used. Chilling testimony from a former guard at one of North Korea's notorious prison camps has revealed the shocking cruelties and deprivation the inmates face. The man, known only as 'Lee' to prevent reprisals against his family, was a guard at Prison camp No16, also known as Hwasong camp, where 20,000 political prisoners live. Thousands have died or disappeared after being sent to the 200-square mill hellhole. Lee watched one man get murdered by two soldiers. The prisoner was first questioned by a man at a desk and then ordered to leave through a door at the back of the room.
Brutal: Life in the totalitarian North Korean camps has been laid bare by a former guard.
Hell on Earth: Former prison guards have spoken of horrifying scenes at camps. The complex where he worked before escaping covers 200 square miles and is home to 20,000 prisoners. Behind the door was a pair of men, one of whom had a rubber cord. One wrapped it around the prisoner's neck while the other tightened it. He told The People: 'I can still see his face. I'll remember it until I die.' The prisoner's body was then thrown into a hole at the back of the room - joining many other corpses in there. Some of the prisoners were high-ranking politicians who had displeased North Korea's dictator Kim Jong Un and sent to the camps, along with their families. 'They would be stripped of their possessions and then split up. They would never see each other again.'
Menacing: The North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un should face international justice for a catalogue of appalling crimes against humanity, UN investigators have. U.N. investigators have warned North Korean security chiefs and possibly even Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un should face international justice for ordering systematic torture, starvation and mass killings It has emerged that North Korean prison guards use inmates as punchbags. Another grisly execution method Lee heard about was prisoners being forced to dig holes in a field. They were then told to stand on the edge before being hit on the back of a head with a hammer. Guards bragged to each other about the sadistic ways they had dispatched their terrified and helpless victims. Prisoners had to walk seven miles to work in -25C conditions. Starvation was rife and the prisoners were often worked to death. Many ate grass, rats, snakes and even ants in a desperate bid to stay alive. He says he never joined in with torture or murder, but admits he didn't feel guilty because of the extensive brainwashing personnel underwent.
Horrendous: This drawing by a former North Korean prison guard of torture at a camp is describing a position called 'pigeon torture'. where 'prisoners are reportedly beaten on the chest until they vomit blood'.
Everyday torture: One of the drawings by the guards, simply titled 'Detention center' seems to depict a guard forcing a prisoner into a small opening in a wall
'Scale, airplane, motorcycle.' Survivors told the U.N. that they had to stay in stress positions until they collapsed.
In August 2016, the United Nations published a 374-page report on the atrocities to which the people of North Korea are subjected under the despotic regime of Kim Jong-Un. Startling testimonies from those who have escaped the totalitarian regime laid bare the extent of human rights abuses in the country. Those who compiled the report describe North Korea as a ‘shock to the conscience of humanity’ and a place ‘that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world’. Their report states: ‘In the political prison camps of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the inmate population has been gradually eliminated through deliberate starvation, forced labor, executions, torture, rape and . . . forced abortion and infanticide.’ In an unprecedented step, the head of the investigating panel, retired Australian judge Michael Kirby, has written to the 31-year-old North Korean dictator, warning him that he and his senior officials could one day face being prosecuted by the International Criminal Court for their crimes against humanity.
This drawing depicts prisoners foraging among live wild animals. In the Korean description: 'out of starvation and hunger, find snakes and rats and you eat them'
Drawings of corpses being left in the gulag: 'The mice eat the eyes, nose, ears, and toes of the corpses'
Since 1948, the country has been ruled by the Kim family. When Kim Il-Sung took power he subjected North Korea to his own brand of hard line Communism combined with the most extreme personality cult. His son, Kim Jong-Il and grandson Kim Jong-Un have maintained the regime. The result has been decades of famine, poverty and state-sponsored brutality. The people have been brainwashed to worship their ‘Dear Leader’ despite the physical privations and mental tortures they have suffered.
Forced Labor: One former prisoner says pregnant women were forced to do strenuous labor to force miscarriages. The report makes for gruesome reading. It is particularly chilling to note that even the slightest of infringements can see a person locked up for decades. One man was sent to prison for absent-mindedly using a newspaper printed with a photograph of Kim Jong-Il to mop up a spilled drink. According to another of the 80 witnesses who testified to the UN, a member of a hospital staff was investigated by State Security for accidentally breaking a portrait of Kim Il-sung while she was cleaning it. Given the total incompetence of the North Korean Government, it would not make humanity sad should North Korea suddenly become no more.
As always, stay safe and stay happy.
bird
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