North Korea has maintained an "extensive and multilayered" system of forced labor in a bid to use it as a means of controlling and monitoring its people for the interest of the state, a U.N. report showed Tuesday. The United Nations Human Rights Office released a new report over North Korea's use of forced labor, which was written based on 183 interviews conducted between 2015 and 2023 with victims and witnesses of such labor exploitation. "The testimonies in this report give a shocking and distressing insight into the suffering inflicted through forced labor upon people, both in its scale, and in the levels of violence and inhuman treatment," U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said in a press release. The report said North Korea's use of forced labor has become "deeply institutionalized" and, in some cases, serious human rights violations have been committed in the process that could amount to the crime against humanity of enslavement. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) stated that "sy stemic" forced labor is used mainly to generate profit for the state, with most of the money earned by workers going to the government, violating workers' rights. Notably, the report highlighted "the widespread use of violence and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" by officials to discipline workers who fail to meet work quotas. The report cited various testimonies from victims of the regime's forced labor system. These include individuals forbidden to leave their worksites and a female worker who was sexually abused by a political guidance officer. "If we didn't meet the daily quota, we were beaten and our food was cut," according to one victim cited in the report. Forced labor impacts nearly everyone's lives in North Korea, including military conscripts, requiring 10 years of service or longer, workers in state enterprises and even schoolchildren. It involves construction, farming, logging and mining, which are often hard, arduous and dangerous. "These people are forced to work in intolerable cond itions, often in dangerous sectors with the absence of pay, free choice, ability to leave, protection, medical care, time off, food and shelter," the high commissioner said. The report stated that forced labor not only provides a source of free labor for the state but also acts as a means for the state to control, monitor and indoctrinate the population. The agency urged Pyongyang to end these slavery-like practices and ensure effective prevention, including clear definitions in national laws, especially policies that are discriminatory toward women. The report further recommended the government to replace the system of labor employment based on coercion, including the threat of detention. To the international community, the agency recommended ensuring strict due diligence in any economic engagement with North Korea and close surveillance of supply chains originating directly and indirectly from the country. It also called on the U.N. Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court. The South Korean government welcomed the report, urging North Korea to implement the recommendations made by the office. "We hope that this report will raise international awareness of the severe human rights situation in North Korea and strengthen international efforts to improve human rights conditions in North Korea," the foreign ministry said in a press release. Source: Yonhap News Agency
Sunday, September 08, 2024