The government continued to exercise total control over all aspects of life, severely restricting the rights to freedom of expression, access to information and free movement. Thousands of people, including those accused of dissent or attempting to flee the country, were detained in prison camps. Prisoners were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment. Public executions were reported. Forced labour was systematically used as a form of control and to keep the economy running. Food shortages worsened but the government continued to reject international aid.
Background
Severe flooding in July destroyed thousands of homes and reportedly left up to 1,500 people dead or missing. Diplomatic relations between North Korea and South Korea became increasingly strained.
Freedom of expression
Restrictions on the right to freedom of expression intensified. The government tightly controlled all forms of communication including by monitoring phone calls, text messages and internet activity and prohibiting contact with the outside world.1 Access to information from external sources also remained forbidden. Foreign media, particularly South Korean news, television programmes and music, were banned; the government imposed severe punishments, including years of “reform through labour”, on individuals who accessed or distributed such content.2 People who defected from North Korea reported that even minor criticism of the government in private conversations could result in arrest and imprisonment, contributing to a pervasive atmosphere of fear.
Arbitrary arrests and detentions
Arbitrary arrests and detention remained widespread. Thousands of people, including entire families, were reportedly detained in political prison camps (kwanliso). Crimes included attempting to flee the country, practising their religion and others deemed to be “reactionary ideology and culture”. Individuals forcibly repatriated from China faced serious human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, forced labour and, in some cases, torture or other ill-treatment, or death.
Torture and other ill-treatment of detainees was widespread but was particularly systematic in kwanliso. Individuals who had successfully fled the country during the year described beatings and other physical and psychological violence against prisoners. These were used both as a form of punishment and to extract confessions. Women prisoners were particularly vulnerable to sexual violence. Prisoners also faced grave physical and mental harms as a result of inhumane conditions in camps including lack of food and denial of medical treatment. The government continued to deny the existence of such camps.
Forced labour
In a report published in July, OHCHR, the UN human rights office, said that forced labour was widespread and institutionalized and that the extensive, multi-layered system of forced labour was used to control and exploit the population. OHCHR identified six types of forced labour, including in the context of state-assigned jobs, military conscription, school children on “work trips” and people deployed in “Shock Brigades”. The report suggested that the widespread use of forced labour in prisons, in which detainees were systematically compelled to work under threats of physical violence, may amount to the crime against humanity of enslavement. Forced work was often in construction, farming, logging and mining and involved arduous and dangerous conditions, long working hours and inadequate compensation.
Death penalty
The death penalty was reportedly imposed for a wide range of offences, including attempted defection, accessing foreign media and criticizing the government. The extent of its use was unknown, but reports by people who had fled the country and from South Korea-based human rights organizations suggested that executions were common. According to unconfirmed reports, up to 30 state officials were executed for corruption and dereliction of duty in relation to the widespread flooding in July. In August, two women were reportedly publicly executed in the north-eastern city of Chongjin after being found guilty of attempting to help people flee the country.
Right to food
Food shortages worsened due to prolonged drought and widespread flooding that damaged crops and agricultural infrastructure in the counties of Sinuiju and Uiju in North Pyongan province. According to media reports, the food crisis was further exacerbated by the government’s ongoing failure to reform the centralized food distribution system, its prioritization of food supplies for the military and political elites over ordinary civilians, and international sanctions. According to the UN, an estimated 10.7 million people, or more than 40% of the population, were undernourished. Children and older people, particularly those living in rural areas, suffered from malnutrition. The government downplayed the scale of food shortages and refused offers of food relief and other support from other governments and international humanitarian agencies.
