North Korea increases punishment for attempted defection

Punishments for attempted escapes from
North Korea are said to have become increasingly more serious since 2014.
Penalties for the possession of illegal videos have also reportedly increased,
together with crackdowns on mobile phones, which play an important role in
disseminating information from the outside world within the North.

On April 25, the Korea Institute for
National Unification [KINU] (President: Choi Jin Wook) based in Seoul released
its 2016 White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea (lead researcher: Do Kyung
Ok, Research Fellow at the Center for North Korean Human Rights Studies)
outlining these changes.  

According to the white paper, witness
testimonies indicate that until 2013, any defector repatriated back to North
Korea for the first time could expect to receive a sentence of no more than six
months in a labor-training camp. Those repatriated for a second time would
usually be sent to a long-term reeducation camp. However, since 2014, this
policy has changed, with all repatriated defectors (regardless of whether they
are first- or second-time offender) sent directly to long-term reeducation
camps.

Due to recent increases in border patrols
and crackdowns, the number of successful defections following a forced
repatriation has been drastically reduced.

The report also provides details on
increased crackdowns and harsher punishments for the possession of illegal
mobile phones and videos, which continue to be the primary method of
circulating information on the outside world within the North.

“Despite crackdowns by the authorities,
North Korean citizens continue to use mobile phones to watch and distribute
illegal materials, and are employing a variety of methods to avoid detection,”
the paper states.

The white paper also exposes the realities
faced by North Korea’s overseas laborers when they are sent abroad to earn
foreign currency for the regime. Reports from 2013 to 2015 include detailed
cases on workers dispatched to Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Libya, Russia, and
China. Testimonies reveal that these North Korean laborers work under extremely
poor conditions, without any form of protection for their basic labor rights.

All North Korean laborers are placed under
the control of minders who are sent along with them, and the vast majority of
their earnings are taken by the North Korean government in the name of ‘planned
contributions,’ meaning that the end up receiving meager compensation for their
labor.

Other testimonies indicate that following
Kim Jong Un’s rise to power, the North carried out a ‘citizen’s registration
document reform’ in March of 2012, which revised the criteria used to evaluate
each individual’s songbun [family political background and loyalty status].

In the past, citizens were classified based
on their great-grandparents and the siblings of their great-grandparents, but
with these reforms, the basis was reduced to male cousins or men, and male
siblings for women. However, the reported added, the extent, if any, to which
this has reduced discrimination in North Korean society has yet to be
determined.

The white paper also establishes that
although North Korea has enacted laws in different fields to implement the 2008
social security law and welfare codes outlined in the constitution, the welfare
system remains widely dysfunctional due to economic difficulties.

KINU has published an annual white paper on
North Korean human rights since 1996 in both Korean and English (with the
English version to be released at the end of June). This year’s white paper was
based on detailed interviews with 186 defectors who arrived in South Korea from
late 2014 to 2015. The interview subjects were selected based on their social
background and demographics.