{"id":30892,"date":"2024-11-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/reports\/general-briefing-north-korea-6370\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T21:44:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T20:44:40","slug":"general-briefing-north-korea-6370","status":"publish","type":"reports","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/reports\/general-briefing-north-korea-6370\/","title":{"rendered":"General Briefing: North Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Legal framework<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea (DPRK), or North Korea, is the world\u2019s most closed, isolated, and repressive state, with one of the worst records for human rights. It is ruled by the only dictatorship in the world which is both a dynasty and portrays itself as a deity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief in North Korea, and any citizen who expresses an opinion or a belief which differs from the regime\u2019s propaganda faces severe punishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commission of Inquiry<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The gravity and extent of human rights abuses being perpetrated by the North Korean regime were exposed in the ground-breaking\u202fUnited Nations Commission of Inquiry (COI) report on human rights in the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea (DPRK) published in February 2014.1<\/sup><\/b> It concluded that the \u2018gravity, scale, and nature of the violations of human rights in North Korea reveal a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world\u2019 and recommended that the UN Security Council refer the situation in the country to the International Criminal Court (ICC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The COI report detailed widespread crimes against humanity and noted that \u2018there is an almost complete denial of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.\u2019 It concluded that the regime \u2018considers the spread of Christianity a particularly severe threat\u2019 and as a result, \u2018Christians are prohibited from practising their religion and are persecuted.\u2019 Severe punishments are inflicted on people \u2018caught practising Christianity.\u2019 Documented incidents include Christians being hung on a cross over a fire, crushed under a steamroller, herded off bridges and trampled underfoot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018 CSW\u2019s North Korea report Movies, Markets and Mass Surveillance found that although the North Korean regime has not shown any signs of change in regard to human rights, increased flows of information into the country via radio broadcasts, DVDs, USB sticks and other means, as well as economic changes in the country, have resulted in a greater awareness among North Korean people about the outside world.2<\/sup><\/b> The COI is also believed to have had some impact within the country, resulting in anecdotal reports of a reduction in the most severe violations. That does not mean that there is any meaningful improvement in human rights in North Korea, but it does mean that international pressure and information flows need to be maintained and increased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July 2021, a report by the UK\u2019s All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on North Korea found that the situation of human rights in the country has not improved since the COI report and that the atrocities \u2018amount to crimes against humanity.\u20193<\/sup><\/b> It states that \u2018there are reasons to believe that some of the atrocities reach the threshold of genocide, particularly in relation to three groups: Christians; half-Chinese children; and the \u2018hostile\u2019 group.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September 2024, CSW\u2019s North Korea report We Cannot Look Away – published to mark ten years since the publication of the COI\u2019s report – found that the Kim regime has made no effort to uphold international human rights standards and has taken no steps to participate as an equal and active member of the international community.4<\/sup><\/b> The situation of human rights in the country remains unchanged at best and may even have deteriorated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, an increased prioritisation of weapons testing and development, the introduction of new domestic legislation, and the continued forced repatriation of North Korean refugees from neighbouring China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prison camps<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

According to The Korea Institute for National Unification, a South Korean government agency, an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 people are detained in prison camps,\u202fwhere they endure dire living conditions and brutal torture.5<\/sup><\/b> Many of these are Christians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defectors who are forcibly returned to North Korea are charged with \u2018treachery against the nation\u2019, sent to prison camps and face abuse, violence and even execution. Despite this, the Chinese government has retained its policy of repatriating all North Korean defectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January 2024 two teenage boys were sentenced to 16 years of hard labour for watching K-Dramas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

General remarks<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The DPRK was the first country in the world to close its borders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the last to re-open. This prolonged isolation only exacerbated food insecurity in the country and reduced virtually all legal and illegal trade in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DPRK is using hackers to steal crypto currency to fund its nuclear projects most notably through cells like the \u2018Lazarus Group\u2019. These groups have been reported to steal at least 600 million dollars in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kim Jong-Un has sold weapons to Putin to be used in the Ukraine War and North Korean labourers are being sent into Russia in increasing numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recommendations<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

To the government of North Korea:<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n