March 10 - Research supports that North Koreans are still in a dire human rights situation. From July 2008 through February 2009, the University of North Korean Studies, under the auspices of the NHRCK, conducted research on the human rights situations of North Koreans from a civil, political, economic, social, and cultural perspective to grasp the actual human rights condition in North Korea. The research is based on the in-depth interviews of 30 North Korean defectors who left North Korea between 2007 and 2008 and surveys of 122 defectors who were enrolled in an adjustment training offered by the Hanawon.
According to the survey, public executions are still admitted in North Korea. 76% of the respondents witnessed public executions and 22% answered that they had heard about public executions taking place. Based on data, the research concluded that public executions still remain though the frequency has been decreasing since 2000. In addition, 78% responded that they had heard of torture and cruel maltreatment taking place in detention centers.
On political detention centers, 57% responded that they knew of the existence of such centers contrasted to 41% who said that they did not. Since political prisoners are taken to political detention centers without legal procedures, their families, relatives, and neighbors cannot know of the whereabouts of their placement. Alongside with these problems, the question of refoulement of defectors remains. In addition, 83% responded that it was hard to get medicine, 46% answered that there was no food distribution and 39% stated that the distribution schedule and the amount of food were not correctly kept. Moreover, 58% witnessed people dying from starvation. Under these circumstances, the number of homeless children, known as “Kotchebi”, is continuously increasing in North Korea.
Based on these results, the NHRCK will embark on further research concerning the human rights situation of North Korean settlers called “Saeteomin”, political detention centers and refoulement. In addition, the content of the 2009 report will be translated and posted in English on the NHRCK website.
