Amnesty International Report 1997 - North Korea

KOREA

(DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF)

The fate of nationals of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) who had reportedly been detained or killed following their return to North Korea remained unclear. No executions were officially reported, but according to unofficial sources, executions took place.

The positions of President of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and General Secretary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, vacant since the death of former President Kim Il Sung in July 1994, remained unfilled, but it was widely reported that Kim Il Sung's son, Kim Jong Il, had assumed effective leadership. The annual session of the legislature, the Supreme People's Assembly, was cancelled for the second year running. Personnel changes among second-ranking leaders suggested that some powers had shifted to younger officials, with long-serving senior leaders remaining titular holders of leadership posts.

Food shortages resulting from the floods of 1995 continued and heavy rains in July caused malnutrition and disease to spread. The shortages led to renewed international appeals by the authorities for aid from UN agencies and non-governmental organizations. Rations distributed through official channels were reportedly reduced further in the latter part of the year.

Independent monitoring of the human rights situation continued to be hampered by restrictions on visits and on access to impartial information.

North Korea's first periodic report to the UN Human Rights Committee on the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights had not been submitted by the end of the year. The report was almost 10 years overdue.

The fate of North Korean nationals who had reportedly been detained or killed following their return to North Korea remained unclear. Amnesty International received reports during the year that North Korean nationals – including asylum-seekers and forestry workers employed at work sites in Russia until the early 1990s – who did not wish to return to North Korea continued to be subjected to human rights violations and harassment by North Korean and Russian officials. Asylum-seekers and forestry workers who had escaped from work camps reportedly risked detention and forcible return to North Korea; some had allegedly been held in ankle shackles by North Korean officials pending their return. It was unclear whether under the amended Criminal Law of 1995 they still faced detention on their return to North Korea.

The government denied reports that Li Young Son (also referred to as Lee Yen Sen) (see Amnesty International Report 1996 Russia entry), who had been serving a prison sentence in Russia, was imprisoned in September 1995 after being forcibly returned to North Korea before consideration of his claim for refugee status. At the time of his return, Li Young Son was believed to risk further imprisonment under the 1987 Criminal Law, which provided for imprisonment of those who "defected" to a foreign country. According to the authorities, the relevant article of the Criminal Law had been amended in 1995 to restrict punishment for acts such as "defection" to cases where they were committed "with a view to overthrowing the Republic". However, the text of the amended legislation was not made available to Amnesty International, despite repeated requests.

The whereabouts of possible prisoners of conscience Choi Gyong Ho, Choi Yen Dan and Lee Sung Nam, all reported to have been detained in previous years following forcible return to North Korea from Russia (see Amnesty International Report 1996), remained unknown.

There were allegations that a North Korean national had been extrajudicially executed in May by North Korean officials after being handed over to them by Russian police. Despite statements by a Russian official confirming the allegations, they were strongly denied by the North Korean authorities. The authorities did not deny that one of their nationals had been returned, but they did not name or give the current whereabouts of that person.

In April, Amnesty International received a photograph of Song Chang Gun (also known as Song Chang Keun), who previous reports suggested had been extrajudicially executed after being handed over to the North Korean authorities in Russia in 1995. The photograph was supposedly taken in North Korea after his return from the Russian Federation in July or August 1995. However, efforts by Amnesty International to contact Song Chang Gun in North Korea were unsuccessful.

Requests for further information about the circumstances surrounding the deaths of former North Korean resident in Japan, Cho Ho Pyong, and Japanese national Shibata Kozo remained unanswered (see Amnesty International Reports 1995 and 1996).

No executions were officially reported during the year, although people who had illegally left North Korea alleged that they had taken place.

During the year, Amnesty International sought information from the authorities on the use of "re-education" as a substitute for criminal punishment. According to the 1992 Criminal Procedure Law, amended in 1995, "social education" could be used to "reform" suspects, instead of criminal punishment. The form this "education" took remained unclear; it appeared to involve punishment without trial. Amnesty International also expressed concern about the amended Criminal Procedure Law, which appeared to allow for detention, possibly without trial, under unspecified other laws. The authorities failed to respond.

In February, Amnesty International published a report, Refoulement of Lee Yen Sen: Fear for safety in North Korea. In September, the organization published Democratic People's Republic of Korea/Russian Federation: Pursuit, intimidation and abuse of North Korean refugees and workers, highlighting reports of human rights violations suffered by North Korean nationals seeking asylum in Russia and expressing concern about the safety of those forcibly returned to North Korea. The report recommended that North Korean nationals in Russia be permitted to seek refugee status and be given adequate protection if their claim was deemed valid, and expressed Amnesty International's opposition to the use of ankle shackles as cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Amnesty International made public the comments received from the North Korean authorities on issues covered by these reports.