Content Warning: Discussion of rape, sexual violence, and torture.
North Korea is sometimes called the world's largest open prison camp due to the authoritarian rule of the Kim family. Citizens are actively spied on and a system of collective punishments, public execution, and torture in custody is used to maintain control over the public.
The government discriminates against individuals on political grounds through songbun, a system that groups people into “loyal,” “wavering,” or “hostile” classes. This classification affects key areas such as employment, residence, and schooling.
The state also uses forced labour from prisoners and ordinary citizens - including children to sustain the economy. Money is funnelled into nuclear and missile programs despite widespread shortages of food and other necessities. North Korea also sends thousands of people to work overseas as low-cost labour - with many of them essentially working under slave-like conditions.
North Koreans’ only legal news source is the state media. Citizens can be sent to prison for consuming content provided by international media outlets and wide Internet access is only available for the elite few.
People convicted of political crimes are often sent to brutal labour camps, which involve physical work. Amnesty has described the prison camps as "harsh beyond endurance", with detainees facing torture by guards.
Women in North Korea suffer a range of sexual and gender-based abuses, including sexual violence and torture in detention facilities, sexual exploitation, and forced marriages.
In 2014, the United Nations report on human rights accused the government of crimes against humanity, including extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape and sexual violence, and forced abortion. North Korea has since refused to cooperate with the UN to improve its rights record.
Written by Anushree Appandairajan
Artwork by Isabel Johns
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