The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) is one of the most repressive countries in the world. The 2014 UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) report found that North Korea committed widespread rights violations, constituting crimes against humanity. Under totalitarian leader Kim Jong Un, North Korea maintains fearful obedience through arbitrary punishments, torture, executions, unjust imprisonment, and forced labor. Sexual and domestic violence against women and girls is widespread and normalized. Basic freedoms, including expression, assembly, and access to information, are severely restricted. In 2024, North Korea maintained extreme and unnecessary measures under the pretext of Covid-19 protection.
North Korea’s expanded military cooperation with Russia, including the transfer of materiel and troops to support Russia’s war with Ukraine, provided an example of the interconnection between North Korea’s security and human rights issues. The deployment of soldiers to a conflict in which Russia has committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other atrocities, was reportedly carried out in exchange for oil and technology related to North Korea’s nuclear and weapons and missile programs.
Freedom of Expression and Information
The government severely restricts freedom of expression and access to information. All media is strictly controlled. Accessing phones, computers, televisions, radios, or other unsanctioned media is illegal and considered “anti-socialist behavior.” The government cracks down on those accessing unsanctioned content, particular of South Korean origin. It jams Chinese mobile phone services at the border, and arrests people for communicating with contacts outside the country.
In July, a man reportedly received a seven-year labor sentence for borrowing an SD card containing South Korean movies. The woman who lent the card received 15 years of forced labor. In August, media with contacts inside the country reported that North Korean athletes, who took selfies at the Paris Olympics that became viral online, faced intense scrutiny and possible punishment. This highlighted the government’s ideological control even outside the country. In August, a court reportedly sentenced a woman and her parents to 10, 9 and 8 years of forced labor for receiving money from overseas and connecting people with relatives in South Korea. The sentencing took place at a public trial in Hoeryong, North Hamgyong province.
Freedom of Movement
The government tightly restricts freedom of movement. Travel between provinces or abroad without prior approval is illegal in North Korea. Human Rights Watch confirmed that as of September, border guards in the northern border were still ordered to “unconditionally shoot” anyone trying to leave without permission. This directive is based on a decree from August 2020, purportedly to protect people from Covid-19.
In February, North Korea opened its border to Russian tourists. In July, a delegation from the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) visited North Korea for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic. In August, North Korea announced plans to open the country to international tourism in December. Some diplomats returned to North Korea in December 2023 and a German delegation visited in February, but humanitarian organizations and most diplomats remained unable to return.
Private, unofficial trade has almost completely ceased in recent years. In January, trade data reportedly showed that official trade with China in 2023 reached almost similar levels to those of pre-Covid-19 years.
The number of North Koreans able to flee remained low. The many obstacles to leaving included greater surveillance in China. Many North Koreans in China remained hidden in safe houses for years as the Chinese government sought to detain North Korean refugees and return them to North Korea. In April, China forcibly returned about 60 North Korea refugees. In 2019, over 1,000 North Koreans arrived in South Korea compared to 105 between January and June 2024. The majority of North Koreans who flee are women; they face trafficking and exploitation in China and dire abuses in detention, including sexual violence, if returned to North Korea.
Right to Health
Reliable data about North Korea is largely unavailable. Still, a 2024 South Korean study estimated that North Korea’s 2023 gross national income was roughly KRW1.6 million (around US$1,200) per person. This places it among the poorest countries worldwide. North Korea has profound and widening social and economic inequalities, exacerbated by the government’s prioritization of military development over public welfare. Therefore, income-based poverty measures may not accurately reflect most people’s lived experiences. Many people have little to no access to health care and face chronic food insecurity.
In March, Human Rights Watch reported that excessive, abusive, and unnecessary Covid-19-related restrictions between 2020 and 2023 blocked most sources of income for a large majority of the population. This reduced their ability to buy already-scarce goods, including food and medicine. The restrictions especially harmed women, who are often the main breadwinners of their households, undermining the rights to food and health.
In August, the FAO raised concerns over the possible negative impacts that recent heavy floods, which destroyed homes, bridges and other infrastructure, may have on food production. The same month, in Musan county, North Hamgyong province, workers at paramilitary forced labor brigades (dolgyeokdae), were mobilized for infrastructure-related work in flooded areas. They reportedly escaped from their duties because of hunger and lack of food.
In February, UNICEF reported that North Korea reactivated its immunization routines in 2023, but found clinics nationwide lack the medicine, supplies, and knowledge to treat children.
At-Risk Groups
North Korea uses songbun, a socio-political classification system that groups people into different classes, based on their perceived political loyalty and that of their parents and ancestors to the ruling Kim family. It discriminates against those placed in the lower classes in employment, housing, and education.
Forced Labor
The North Korean government systematically requires forced, uncompensated labor from much of its population to sustain its economy. The government’s forced labor demands target women, children, state workers, detainees, and prisoners. The government justifies these practices as demonstrations of loyalty to the government, with severe punishment for non-compliance.
In July, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported that forced labor in North Korea is deeply institutionalized. It said that people are “controlled and exploited through an extensive and multi-layered system of forced labor,” that serves the state’s interests rather than the people’s.
North Korea is one of seven UN member states that has not joined the International Labour Organization.
Justice and Accountability
Despite years of international condemnation, accountability for grave human rights abuses in North Korea remains elusive. In 2024, the 10th anniversary of the landmark 2014 UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) report, international efforts to advance accountability gained renewed traction. In March, the UN special rapporteur on North Korea dedicated her report to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) to efforts made and measures still needed to advance accountability. In April, with EU leadership, the HRC adopted a resolution requesting the OHCHR to publish a comprehensive report on North Korean human rights since 2014, and to take stock of the COI’s recommendations. The resolution also increased the OHCHR’s resources to focus on criminal accountability for North Korea’s rights violations.
In March, Russia vetoed the renewal of the Security Council’s Panel of Experts’ mandate to monitor enforcement of UN sanctions. In response, civil society organizations, human rights advocates, and security experts called for the UN General Assembly to create a new body to report on human rights as well as proliferation-related issues in North Korea. In October, the US, Japan, and South Korea announced the formation of the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, which will monitor the implementation of sanctions on North Korea.
In June, the Security Council held a public official meeting on the human rights situation in North Korea, focusing on forced labor and issues that enable its nuclear program.