Punishments for attempted escapes from
\nNorth Korea are said to have become increasingly more serious since 2014.
\nPenalties for the possession of illegal videos have also reportedly increased,
\ntogether with crackdowns on mobile phones, which play an important role in
\ndisseminating information from the outside world within the North.<\/p>\n
On April 25, the Korea Institute for According to the white paper, witness Due to recent increases in border patrols The report also provides details on \u201cDespite crackdowns by the authorities, The white paper also exposes the realities All North Korean laborers are placed under Other testimonies indicate that following In the past, citizens were classified based The white paper also establishes that KINU has published an annual white paper on 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":32598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nNational Unification [KINU] (President: Choi Jin Wook) based in Seoul released
\nits 2016 White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea (lead researcher: Do Kyung
\nOk, Research Fellow at the Center for North Korean Human Rights Studies)
\noutlining these changes.
\ntestimonies indicate that until 2013, any defector repatriated back to North
\nKorea for the first time could expect to receive a sentence of no more than six
\nmonths in a labor-training camp. Those repatriated for a second time would
\nusually be sent to a long-term reeducation camp. However, since 2014, this
\npolicy has changed, with all repatriated defectors (regardless of whether they
\nare first- or second-time offender) sent directly to long-term reeducation
\ncamps.
\nand crackdowns, the number of successful defections following a forced
\nrepatriation has been drastically reduced.
\nincreased crackdowns and harsher punishments for the possession of illegal
\nmobile phones and videos, which continue to be the primary method of
\ncirculating information on the outside world within the North.
\nNorth Korean citizens continue to use mobile phones to watch and distribute
\nillegal materials, and are employing a variety of methods to avoid detection,\u201d
\nthe paper states.
\nfaced by North Korea\u2019s overseas laborers when they are sent abroad to earn
\nforeign currency for the regime. Reports from 2013 to 2015 include detailed
\ncases on workers dispatched to Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Libya, Russia, and
\nChina. Testimonies reveal that these North Korean laborers work under extremely
\npoor conditions, without any form of protection for their basic labor rights.
\nthe control of minders who are sent along with them, and the vast majority of
\ntheir earnings are taken by the North Korean government in the name of \u2018planned
\ncontributions,\u2019 meaning that the end up receiving meager compensation for their
\nlabor.
\nKim Jong Un\u2019s rise to power, the North carried out a \u2018citizen\u2019s registration
\ndocument reform\u2019 in March of 2012, which revised the criteria used to evaluate
\neach individual\u2019s songbun [family political background and loyalty status].
\non their great-grandparents and the siblings of their great-grandparents, but
\nwith these reforms, the basis was reduced to male cousins or men, and male
\nsiblings for women. However, the reported added, the extent, if any, to which
\nthis has reduced discrimination in North Korean society has yet to be
\ndetermined.
\nalthough North Korea has enacted laws in different fields to implement the 2008
\nsocial security law and welfare codes outlined in the constitution, the welfare
\nsystem remains widely dysfunctional due to economic difficulties.
\nNorth Korean human rights since 1996 in both Korean and English (with the
\nEnglish version to be released at the end of June). This year\u2019s white paper was
\nbased on detailed interviews with 186 defectors who arrived in South Korea from
\nlate 2014 to 2015. The interview subjects were selected based on their social
\nbackground and demographics.<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"