North Korea

Abstract

The human rights situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) has remained dire under the control of Kim Jong-Un. The government is controlled by a one-party monopoly and dynastic leadership that do not tolerate pluralism and systematically denies basic freedoms. Tight controls on North Korea's border with China continued in 2014, further reducing the number of North Koreans able to flee and seek refuge in third countries.A Commission of Inquiry (COI) established by the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC), chaired by retired Australian judge Michael Kirby, published a devastating report in February 2014 that concluded that the North Korea government has committed systematic human right abuses at a scale without parallel in the contemporary world—including extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions, and other sexual violence.On March 28, the HRC adopted a resolution supporting the COI's findings and calling for accountability. In October, heavy pressure on North Korea at the UN General Assembly in New York and North Korea's concern over the possibility of a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC) prompted a first-ever meeting between North Korean diplomats and Marzuki Darusman, the HRC special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea.On November 18, the third committee of the UN General Assembly, rejecting an amendment by Cuba that would have stripped accountability from the text, adopted the resolution by a 111 to 19 vote, with 55 states abstaining. The resolution endorsed the COI's conclusions and called on the UN Security Council to consider referring North Korea's leadership to the ICC for crimes against humanity committed against the people of North Korea.