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Ambassador Stephen Bosworth

Special Representative for North Korea Policy

U.S. Department of State, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs

2201 C Street NW, Room 6205

Washington, DC 20520

 

Re: US Policies on North Korean Human Rights and Refugees

 

Dear Ambassador Bosworth:

We write to urge you to take a more proactive role in addressing human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the situation of North Korean refugees. We understand that Robert King awaits his confirmation as the new special envoy on North Korean human rights. We look forward to working with both of you on these important matters. In the meantime, we urge the US government to address the plight of North Koreans with more vigor and urgency.

We note that the US has been a generous donor to North Korea since North Korea suffered a famine in the 1990s and through most of the 2000s. In 2004, former US President George W. Bush signed into law the North Korean Human Rights Act, which calls for humanitarian aid, extended radio broadcasts to North Korea, assistance to and resettlement of North Korean refugees, funding of non-governmental organizations focusing on human rights and democracy, and the appointment of a special envoy, among other measures.

In addition, we believe the US should be raising human rights issues in future dialogues with North Korea, pressing China to protect and recognize North Korean refugees, and accepting North Korean refugees through a speedier screening process.

Our organizations have conducted research on human rights conditions inside North Korea for many years, including the right to food, workers' rights, treatment of repatriated North Koreans, prison conditions, abductees, and the plight of North Korean refugees, among other issues. Some of us also provide assistance to North Korean refugees in transit or those who are resettling in Japan or South Korea.

Strong Multilateral and Bilateral Diplomacy on Human Rights in North Korea

Human rights conditions in North Korea remain dire. There is no organized political opposition, independent labor unions, free media, functioning civil society, or religious freedom. Arbitrary arrest, detention, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees, and lack of due process in the criminal justice system are serious and endemic violations. Repression of anyone perceived as potentially a critic of the existing order is so severe that there is not a single publicly known dissident or activist living in North Korea.

For too long has the world sidelined human rights in North Korea while single-mindedly focusing on security issues. One and a half decades later, North Korea's nuclear problem remains unresolved. For a long-term resolution of security issues, one needs to address the repressive system underneath.

With that in mind, we welcome Robert King's statements on November 5 at a Senate panel that the US government should balance its security efforts with human rights concerns.

The US should press North Korea to include human rights on the agenda in bilateral talks. That agenda should include the following key issues in addition to points on food aid, refugees, and Kaesong, addressed below:

  • An immediate and permanent ban of public executions and taking steps to abolish the death penalty. North Korea routinely executes people for stealing state property, hoarding food, and other "anti-socialist" crimes.
  • Cooperation with the UN human rights bodies, and opening the country to visits by UN Special Rapporteurs and technical assistance from the Office ofthe High Commissioner for Human Rights. Of high priority should be facilitating inspection of all types of detention facilities by the United Nations or other independent international experts and implementation of recommendations from such trips.
  • Ending the punishment of North Koreans who return home, either voluntarily or forcibly, after leaving the country without state permission.
  • Locating families of US citizens of Korean descent, enabling them to freely contact each other, and holding regular family reunion meetings.

Food Aid

Although the country recovered from the 1990s famine that killed millions, North Korea still suffers from widespread hunger. In September 2009, the World Food Programme reported that a third of North Korean women and children are malnourished and that the country will need to import or receive aid of almost 1.8 million tons of food to feed the most vulnerable population.

We believe humanitarian aid should continue and should never be used as a political tool. But we would like to emphasize that it is crucial to monitor the distribution of such aid. Humanitarian aid should reach the most vulnerable, including young children, the elderly, the disabled, and pregnant and nursing women. Donors should make sure that aid is reaching the intended recipients.

The deterioration of the state rationing system as food has become more of a market commodity has made food too expensive for many North Koreans to access in sufficient quantities. Market "trickle down" effects do not ensure that those on the bottom of the economic ladder receive sufficient food. For this reason, we believe that the US should continue to urge the North Korean government to:

  • Accept proper monitoring of food aid distribution consistent with international standards of transparency and accountability. These standards include access around the country to determine needs and the ability to make visits to places where food aid is delivered.

Refugees

The plight of North Korean refugees is relatively well known both in the United States and internationally. Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans crossed the border to China since a famine hit the country in the mid-1990s. Although the number of such people decreased significantly, border crossings to avoid wide-spread hunger, earn income, and escape political repression continue to date. China has an obligation to protect and shelter them as refugees, but periodically arrests and repatriates them instead. Those who are forcibly returned face grave human rights abuses, including detention, inhuman treatment, torture, imprisonment in labor and the so-called political prison camps, and even execution.

Despite procedures in the North Korean Human Rights Act to assist North Korean refugees in transit and resettle them in the US, five years after the act went into effect, the number of North Korean refugees admitted by the US remains fewer than 100.

In his final report earlier this year, Jay Lefkowitz, former special envoy on North Korean human rights, pointed out that the number of North Korean refugees who settled in the US remains small, thanks to the "lengthy and cumbersome" screening process.

He also mentioned that the US diplomatic posts throughout East Asia "still lack clear instructions regarding the need to receive, advise and, if necessary, shelter North Korean refugees in crisis situations... Organizations and individuals aiding the refugees in transit seldom approach US posts, believing they will be turned away or referred to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which has been marginalized, especially in China, where most of the refugees are in hiding."

We welcome the statement of Robert King, the new special envoy on North Korean human rights, at a Senate panel on November 5 where he said he would press China to stop sending home North Koreans who have fled their country.

We recommend that the US government:

  • Approach other governments in the region, particularly China, to ensure that all North Korean refugees who seek refuge at US diplomatic facilities receive prompt assistance to be safely transferred to their desired destination, including the US.
  • Send clear instructions to all US diplomatic facilities on the principle of receiving and sheltering North Korean refugees and assisting with their transit. Accelerate the screening process for North Korean refugees who wish to settle in the US.
  • Press North Korea to abolish penalties on North Koreans who leave the country without official permission, halting their punishment in practice, and enabling international monitoring of those who are repatriated or voluntarily return. The persecution of persons for leaving North Korea creates thousands of refugees sur place every year, and deepens regional instability and tension with North Korea's neighbors.
  • Press China to stop arresting and repatriating North Korean refugees, and to fulfill its obligations to shelter and protect them under the 1951 Refugee Convention. Press China to allow the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees access to North Koreans to determine their status, and assist with their safe and speedy settlement in China or transit to a third country.

Kaesong Industrial Complex

South Korean businesses employ some 40,000 North Korean workers at the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) in North Korea. International human rights organizations have never been given access to investigate the protection of workers' rights at the complex, which opened in June 2004. North Korea denied the former special envoy's request to visit the KIC in 2008, despite appeals to North Korea's UN mission in New York to reverse the decision.

Proponents for the KIC argue that the facilities are clean, modern, and the workers earn more money than most other factory workers in North Korea. The KIC Labor Law also guarantees some important labor protections, including paid vacation days, 150 days of maternity leave, restrictions on firing workers, and recognition of the employers' responsibility to protect workers from dangerous work environments.

However, in the KIC Labor Law, many fundamental rights are missing, including the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining, the right to strike, prohibition of sex discrimination and sexual harassment, and a ban on harmful child labor. In addition, although the KIC Labor Law stipulates that South Korean companies shall pay the North Korean workers directly in cash, South Korean employers are forced to pay workers' salaries to the North Korean government instead. If the North Korean government can force South Korean employers to break a regulation designed to protect the workers, there is no guarantee that other such regulations are respected.

This issue became more relevant for the US, when the US and South Korea signed a free trade agreement (FTA) in June 2007 and pledged to work together to secure legislative approval for the agreement in both countries. The Annex 22-B to the US-Korea FTA creates the possibility that North Korean goods from specially designated outward processing zones could enter the United States duty free under the agreement. Therefore it is incumbent on the US to ensure basic labor rights are maintained in North Korean outward processing zones like the KIC. In August 2007 Human Rights Watch submitted a briefing paper to the Office of the United States Trade Representative on our concerns on the Annex 22-B.[1]

We recommend that the US:

  • Press North Korea to join the International Labour Organization, accede to its core treaties, and invite ILO officials to investigate and discuss protection and promotion of workers' rights in North Korea.
  • Press South Korea so that North Korean outward processing zones fulfill the labor rights requirements, as required under main text of the US-Korea FTA. This means the KIC Labor Law and relevant practices should meet the standards on workers' rights articulated in the ILO Declaration on Principles and Rights at Work, and that workers are aware of and understand these rights.
  • Press South Korea to ensure each North Korean outward processing zone permit an independent, third-party workers' rights monitoring visit by the ILO or an international human rights, workers' rights, or trade union organization, agreed upon by US and Korean authorities. During the monitoring visit to worksites, monitors should randomly select workers to interview anonymously and outside the watch of North Korean supervisors, collect and review relevant employer records, and publicly disclose the results of the visit.

We are fully aware that improving human rights conditions in a country such as North Korea is a daunting task. But the US has a chance to help improve human rights conditions for North Koreans inside and outside the country, by increasing pressure on North Korea and its neighbors to improve their human rights record. We believe it is crucial that the US government take a leadership role in this difficult task.

We would be happy to discuss these matters further with you.

Sincerely,

Sophie Richardson

Asia Advocacy Director

Human Rights Watch

 

Benjamin Hyun Yoon

Representative

Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights

 

Kato Hiroshi

Executive Director

Life Funds for North Korean Refugees

 

Miura Kotarou

Secretary General

The Society to Help Returnees to North Korea


[1] Human Rights Watch, The US-Korea Free Trade Agreement: Annex 22-B: A Missed Opportunity on Workers' Rights in North Korea, August 2007, https://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2007/08/02/us-korea-free-trade-agreement

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