Life And Law In North Korea: A Dangerous Mix

North Korea, officially called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is a country with a reputation for strict laws and harsh punishments. Breaking the law in North Korea can lead to severe consequences, including imprisonment, forced labour, and even the death penalty. The country's legal system, inherited from colonial Japan and influenced by the Soviet Union, is governed by The Socialist Constitution and operates within the country's authoritarian political system. With limited freedom of expression and information, accessing unauthorised media or engaging in reactionary ideology and culture can result in lengthy prison sentences or even capital punishment. The country's border controls are also notoriously strict, with attempts to cross them without permission often resulting in lethal force being used by border guards.

Guilty until proven innocent

North Korea is one of the most repressive countries in the world, ruled by totalitarian leader Kim Jong Un. The country has a codified civil law system inherited from colonial Japan and influenced by the Soviet Union. It is governed by The Socialist Constitution and operates within the political system of North Korea.

When a person is accused of breaking the law in North Korea, they are immediately detained by police. They are rarely informed of the reason for their arrest or their rights. They are taken to jail and kept there until their trial, with no concept of when that will be. The only way to be released at this stage is to bribe the guards.

The accused have no say in the outcome of their trial. They are assumed guilty unless they can prove themselves innocent beyond a reasonable doubt. Most people's only hope is that a family member has bribed the judge, which often costs the family everything they have.

The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) writes laws in abstract, vague language, and these laws are never communicated to the general public. This gives the regime total power over the criminality of citizens. If a person of a high Songbun (class) wants a person of a lower Songbun arrested, they can interpret the law as they see fit and have that person arrested. Common offenses include "conspiracy to subvert the State", "treason against the Fatherland", and "illegal trade".

The North Korean judicial system is an instrument of state power, and lawyers are limited in the defense they can mount for their clients. When a lawyer does represent a client, it is largely a formality. They may explain the client's motives for committing a suspected crime and make some positive comments about them, but they do not mount a serious defense.

Forced labour as punishment

Forced labour is a common punishment for breaking the law in North Korea. The country has a highly institutionalised system of forced labour, which is directed towards the interests of the State rather than the people. This system acts as a means for the State to control, monitor and indoctrinate the population.

The UN Human Rights Office has identified six distinct types of forced labour in North Korea: labour in detention, compulsory State-assigned jobs, military conscription, the use of revolutionary "Shock Brigades", work mobilisations, and work performed by people sent abroad by the country to earn currency for the State.

After completing school or military service, every North Korean is assigned to a workplace by the State, which also dictates where they must live. There is an absence of free choice of work, and workers face the threat of imprisonment if they do not attend. They are also subject to continuous non-payment of wages.

Military conscripts are required to serve for 10 years or more and are routinely forced to work in agriculture or construction. This work is often hard and dangerous, without adequate health and safety measures. As a result, many soldiers become malnourished and contract tuberculosis.

"Shock Brigades" are State-organised groups of citizens who are forced to carry out arduous manual labour, often in construction and agriculture. These groups are required to live on-site for months or even years, with little to no remuneration. Being drafted into these work mobilisations particularly impacts women, who are often the main income earners for their families.

The North Korean government also sends selected citizens overseas to work and earn foreign currency for the State. These workers typically lose up to 90% of their wages to the State and face constant surveillance, with no freedom of movement. Their passports are confiscated, and they are housed in cramped living quarters with almost no time off and limited possibilities to contact their families.

The institutionalised labour system starts at school, with schoolchildren often being forced to perform tasks such as clearing riversides or planting trees.

The UN report on forced labour in North Korea calls on the government to "abolish the use of forced labour and end any forms of slavery". It urges the international community to investigate and prosecute those suspected of committing international crimes and refers the situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Human rights in prison camps

North Korea's human rights record has been globally condemned by the United Nations and groups such as Human Rights Watch. Amnesty International considers North Korea to have no contemporary parallel with respect to violations of liberty.

The North Korean government denies all allegations of human rights violations in prison camps, but former prisoners testify that there are completely different rules in these camps. The government has released no information on inmates or prison camps and has not allowed access to any human rights organizations.

The conditions in North Korean prison camps are unsanitary, life-threatening, and comparable to historical concentration camps. A significant number of inmates die each year, as they are subject to torture and inhumane treatment. Executions of inmates, including children, are commonplace, especially in cases of attempted escape. The mortality rate is exceptionally high, as many prisoners die of starvation, illnesses, work accidents, or torture while working in the fields of agricultural farming.

The prison camps in North Korea can be divided into two types: large internment camps for political prisoners (Kwan-li-so in Korean) and reeducation prison camps (Kyo-hwa-so in Korean).

The internment camps for people accused of political offenses or denounced as politically unreliable are run by the State Security Department (North Korea's Thought Police). Reports by refugees also indicate that all religious activities are considered illegal, and offenders are frequently arrested and sent to these camps. Refugees reported that people were subjected to arrests and disappearances for owning Bibles.

The internment camps are located in central and northeastern North Korea. They consist of many prison labor colonies in secluded mountain valleys, completely isolated from the outside world and cut off from society. The total number of prisoners incarcerated in these camps is estimated to range from 80,000 to 200,000. The Yodok and Bukchang camps are separated into two sections: one for political prisoners in lifelong detention, and another similar to re-education camps, where prisoners are serving long-term sentences with the vague hope of eventual release.

Prisoners of all ages, including the sick and elderly, are forced to perform hard and dangerous slave labor with primitive means in mining and agriculture. The food rations are very small, so the prisoners are constantly on the brink of starvation. In combination with the hard work, this leads to a large number of prisoners dying. An estimated 40% of prisoners die from malnutrition. Moreover, many prisoners are crippled from work accidents, frostbite, torture, starvation, or executions. There is a rigid punishment system in the camp. Prisoners who work too slowly or do not obey orders are beaten or tortured. In cases of stealing food or attempting to escape, prisoners are publicly executed.

The re-education camps for criminals are run by the Ministry of Social Security. There is a fluid passage between common crimes and political crimes, as people who get on the wrong side of influential party members are often falsely denounced and accused. They are then forced into false confessions through brutal torture in detention centers and are condemned in a brief show trial to a long-term prison sentence. In North Korea, political crimes are varied and rigorously punished. Due to the dire prison conditions, with hunger and torture, a large percentage of prisoners do not survive their sentences.

The re-education camps are large prison building complexes surrounded by high walls. The plight of the prisoners is quite similar to that in the political prison camps. They have to perform slave labor in prison factories, and if they do not meet the work quotas, they are tortured and confined for many days in special prison cells, too small to stand up or lie full-length in.

To distinguish from the internment camps for political prisoners, the re-education camp prisoners are forced to undergo ideological instruction after work, and they are made to memorize the speeches of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and undergo self-criticism rites. Many prisoners are guilty of common crimes penalized in other countries, such as illegal border crossing, stealing food, or illegal trading. There are around 15 to 25 re-education camps in North Korea.

Freedom of expression and information

North Korea is considered to have the worst human rights record in the world and has been globally condemned by the United Nations and groups such as Human Rights Watch. The country's citizens have no right to free speech, and only state-controlled media providers are legal.

The North Korean government does not respect the rights to freedom of thought, opinion, expression, or information. All media is strictly controlled, and accessing phones, computers, televisions, radios, or media content that are not sanctioned by the state is illegal and deemed "anti-socialist behavior." The punishment for such behavior is severe.

The government regularly cracks down on unsanctioned media consumption and arrests those communicating with people outside the country or connecting outsiders to people inside North Korea. The government also jams Chinese mobile phone services at the northern border.

In December 2020, North Korea adopted the "DPRK Law on Rejecting Reactionary Ideology and Culture," which bans people from distributing media originating from South Korea, the US, or Japan, with punishments of up to the death penalty. Simply watching such media content can result in a 15-year sentence in an ordinary crimes prison camp. Under this law, speaking, writing, or singing in the South Korean style can be punished with two years of hard labor.

The law also criminalizes the possession of unsanctioned foreign mobile phones, with penalties of three months or more of forced labor. There have been reports of increased inspections and crackdowns on student text messages containing South Korean slang, mass arrests of users of foreign cell phones, and a propaganda campaign depicting foreign phone users as "evil" enemies of the state.

The North Korean constitution has clauses that nominally guarantee the freedoms of speech and assembly. However, in practice, other clauses take precedence, including the requirement that citizens follow a socialist way of life. Criticism of the government and its leaders is strictly curtailed, and making such statements can lead to arrest and consignment to one of North Korea's "re-education" camps.

Information about the outside world is strictly controlled. All but a minuscule minority of North Korean citizens are prohibited from using the internet. The government maintains an intranet called Kwangmyong, which is disconnected from the global internet. The consumption of foreign media is strictly prohibited and can even be punished by execution.

Radio and television sets distributed by the government are preset to receive only state-controlled frequencies and are sealed to prevent tampering. It is a serious criminal offense to manipulate these devices to receive broadcasts from outside North Korea.

There are numerous civic organizations in North Korea, but all appear to be operated by the government, routinely praising the regime and perpetuating the personality cult of the Kim family. Defectors indicate that the promotion of the cult of personality is one of the primary functions of almost all films, plays, and books produced within the country.

Political prisoners

North Korea has been accused of operating political prison camps, or 'kwanliso', where detainees are subjected to torture and inhumane conditions. The North Korean government denies the existence of these camps, but satellite imagery and testimonies from former guards and inmates suggest otherwise. The camps are often located in remote and mountainous areas, with the phrase "sent to the mountains" becoming synonymous with enforced disappearance.

The number of prisoners held for political reasons is believed to be between 80,000 and 120,000, according to estimates by the US-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) and the Korea Institute for National Unification, a South Korean government agency. This number has declined over the last decade, but this is due to the high death rate among prisoners, rather than any reduction in the use of political imprisonment.

Defectors have reported witnessing public executions of those accused of political crimes, including drug dealing, watching and disseminating South Korean media, and violent crimes. The 2016 White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea, published by the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), also documented the use of torture in detention facilities, including severe beatings, electric shock, prolonged exposure to the elements, and confinement in small "punishment cells".

The international community, including the UN and human rights organisations, has expressed concern over the treatment of political prisoners in North Korea and has called for the dismantlement of the political prison camps. However, North Korea has rejected these calls, accusing Western powers of using human rights criticism as part of a hostile policy.

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