Humanitarian Crisis in North Korea

Humanitarian Crisis in North Korea

Written By: Aayushi Jain
B.B.A. LL. B 5^th year
Banasthali Vidyapith

Edited By: Yash Jain
5^th Year B.B.A. LL.B.(H)
Amity Law School, Noida

INTRODUCTION

North Korea is one of the most repressive and isolative country in the world. The government of Kim Jong-un have diminished freedom of expression, religion or any association. The government also have prohibited independent media, political opposition, NGOs etc. In 2014, UN Commission of Inquiry found that the government of North Korea committed violations that constitutes crimes against humanity which includes rape, murder, extermination, Enslavement, forced abortions and inhumane torture. (North Korea: UN Condemns Crimes Against Humanity, 2014) North Korea also have prison camps and detention camps where alleged criminals, government’s opposition, defectors or anyone in the eyes of the authority who violated their rules are kept where they are tortured, forced to work as labour, raped, face starvation and executed. The Kim family’s government has persistently given more importance to maintaining power at the cost of basic rights of its people, includes development of nuclear armaments and intercontinental ballistic missiles while the citizens of the country are facing starvation.

The government continues to suppress the basic human right to freedom of expression, by controlling the freedom of thought and opinion of the North Korean people, a north Korean defector named Yeonmi park said that her mother use to teach her to not even think bad about their dear leader as they have no freedom to think against the government. (Park, 2015) The country has adopted the “DPRK law on rejecting reactionary ideology and culture” in December 2020 which prohibits distributing media from United States of America, South Korea and Japan that are usually available in the black markets and said that any violator will be punished by death penalty. (Joint Open Letter on Human Rights in North Korea, 2021) Just watching such media content or films can led to a man being punished for 15 years in prison camp.

Public execution is another practice by the government to terrorise and discipline their population. If a person is to be executed, peoples of that area is forced to gather and witness the execution. The children are also forced to watch the execution. This information is confirmed by many defectors same has mention in UN’s report.

HISTORY OF NORTH KOREA

Korea earned the title of hermit kingdom a name still used today for North Korea. Due to outside influence and internal unrest, very old rule of the Korean Monarchy started to deteriorate towards the end of the 19^th century. The “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” or North Korea is created by Kim Il-sung coming in power and the foundation of a communist regime are laid down with agricultural land redistributed, and industry and economy nationalized. Tensions rise rapidly between the two new republics, with many incidents reported along the 38^th Parallel. After gaining the support of a reluctant Joseph Stalin and China’s new leader, Mao Tse-tung. In 1950, Kim-Il-sung with North Korean army, supported by the USSR and China invaded South Korea. A UN international force, led by the United States intervenes and pushes back on the offensive, forcing North Korea to retreat. The People’s Republic of China enters the war and in turn pushes back the United Nations Forces. After 3 years of war and nearly 3 million dead both military and civilians, a non- aggression pact is signed in 1953 and a new border is created with a demilitarized zone 250 km long and 4 km wide. This is a misnomer because it is still one of the most militarized areas in the world with the permanent presence of over one million soldiers. Now after the war, North Korea starts industrial development and agriculture development to achieve self- sufficiency. In 1994, after 22 years of rule, Kim Il-sung dies, and was succeeded by his son Kim Jong-Il. At the same time, the country suffers a famine due to economic mismanagement and series of floods and droughts, forcing him to request international food assistance. (North Korea profile - Timeline, 2019)

A 2011 U.S. Census Bureau report estimated the number of peoples who died due to starvation and hinger-related illness from 1993 to 2000 to be between 500,000 and 600,000. The government banned the words such as ‘famine’ and ‘hunger’ to hide their failure and the punishment were severe if anyone use these words. The citizens of the country had already experienced nutritional-deprivation before this famine. Even after this the government started the campaign of 2- meal a day. In 1997, a delegation of UNICEF was sent to North Korea to provide medical assistance, the delegation saw homemade beer bottles used as IV sets and the hospital didn’t even have ORS and basic drugs like antibiotics. (ANNUAL REPORT: NORTH KOREA 2011, June, 2011) In 2011, Kim Jong-Il dies and is succeeded by his son Kim Jong-un who accelerates weapons research in 2016, After 5 rounds of tests, the country now claims to be equipped with a stable nuclear weapon. A year later, an intercontinental ballistic missile was successfully fired, for the first time directly threatening US soil with nuclear weapons. In response, many economic sanctions are slapped on North Korea by the UN security Council. The country became increasingly isolated.

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN NORTH KOREA

In army and political circles, contingency plans exist for almost any situation in North Korea political evolution within inside the North main to non-violent reunification with South Korea, crumble of the Kim regime, combating amongst army factions, and a probable takeover with the aid of using overseas forces. Whatever the situation, there was very little enter from human rights and humanitarian actors withinside the layout of the contingency plans. Yet, nearly any situation calls for the availability of ok food, medicine, potable water and sanitation to mitigate disruption or turmoil withinside the North. In the case of mass migration, protection, help and developmental answers might be required for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). It may also be important to set up steady surroundings to guard the North Korean populace from violence, human rights abuse and crook activity. Plans to attain political transition, monetary recovery, the established order of the guideline of thumb of law, and transitional justice may also be needed. Human rights and humanitarian concerns, therefore, must determine prominently in any situation, however the applicable actors have now no longer but come collectively to prepare. For humanitarian actors, even speaker approximately extrude in North Korea violates their modus operandi of neutrality, impartiality and cooperation with the authorities. Any planning, they fear, should create the arrival in their searching for to resolve the regime (aka “regime extrude”) and cause authorities’ regulations on their operations or expulsion from the country. Preserving access, but limited, is an intention of its own. By contrast, human rights advocates overtly are looking for reform with the aid of using exposing violations, elevating public attention and making tips for civil, political, monetary and social extrude.

(Cornish, 2020)Early in 2020, North Korea have become one of the first international locations with inside the global to completely close its borders within inside the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Officially, the authorities claim it has no recorded COVID-19 infections. But media shops with reasserts interior North Korea stated debts of COVID-like signs and symptoms and deaths amongst soldiers, and feasible outbreaks withinside the northern towns of Manpo and Chongjin. Through the 12 months, the authorities then intensified regulations on communications with the out of doors global. Domestic tour is now nearly completely prohibited, and borders are greater tightly managed than ever, with the police ordered to “unconditionally shoot” on sight absolutely everyone in border areas, media shops with reasserts interior North Korea stated. The authorities have additionally imposed severe measures on resident diplomats and worldwide enterprise employees. It prohibited tour out of doors of Pyongyang and the receipt of diplomatic pouches. It has additionally installed impact quarantines of over a month for re-access into the country. These measures have led all however 3 overseas useful resource employees to depart the country. It has end up more and more hard to analyse the reality approximately what's taking place to everyday people, however there may be no doubt that the scenario is dire. Official exchange statistics presents a glimpse of the awful monetary plight of the North Korean people. Trade with China in 2020 reduced via way of means of nearly eighty one percent, which got here after already full-size drops in 2018, after the United Nations anti-guns proliferation sanctions had been expanded. The authorities dramatically decreased imports of staple meals and different requirements from China in August and stopped nearly all imports, along with all meals and medicine, in October, claiming that COVID-19 can unfold thru migratory birds and animals, snow, and “yellow dust” blowing into the north Korea from China. These shocks got here along intense floods that hit the country among June and September, destroying crops, roads, and bridges — in addition undermining agricultural production. In the face of what seems to be a mass humanitarian and meals crisis, the North Korean authorities has again and again rejected gives of worldwide aid. Meanwhile, the authorities have distinct corruption and smuggling operations — which, at the same time as illegal, are critical to relieve shortages — as “anti-socialist” and “enemy” behaviour.

At the present time North Korea faces an extreme humanitarian disaster because of meals lack of confidence and restricted fitness care, annoyed via way of means of worldwide sanctions and the coronavirus, a global nongovernmental business enterprise has stated. According to the trendy Inform Severity Index file compiled via way of means of the Geneva-primarily based totally Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPS), North Korea faces an "excessive" degree of humanitarian disaster severity. This represented the second-maximum degree of a six-tier disaster assessment scale. The file additionally ranked North Korea most of the international locations with "excessive constraints" in humanitarian get right of entry to. "The humanitarian scenario withinside the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is pushed via way of means of political and financial elements in addition to herbal hazards," the file stated, the usage of North Korea's professional name. "Chronic meals lack of confidence and restricted get right of entry to primary services, inclusive of healthcare and easy water, have left extra than 10 million humans in want of humanitarian assistance," it stated. The file stated that worldwide sanctions have restrained the North's import of humanitarian items and affected human’s get right of entry to aid. North Korea is assumed to be laid low with continual meals shortages because of damaging climate situations in latest years and the effect of world sanctions on its economy. The North's strict measures in opposition to COVID-19, which include the closure of borders, also are predicted to have "long-time period consequences" on its economy. (North Korea faces serious humanitarian crisis: report, 2021)

Apart from the above stated crisis North Korea is one the most important violators of human rights withinside the present-day world. The maximum obvious human rights violation in North Korea is the continual famine and political prisoner camps withinside the country. The residing standard in North Korea is one of the lowest on an international scale. During the 1996-2000 famine, around 330,000 population in North Korea died of hunger. Although North Korea gets worldwide useful resource from numerous organisations, they're disbursed at the grounds of the Songbun system rather than humanitarian considerations. The insufficient standard of residing in North Korea outcomes withinside the non-stop emigration of population, along with via defection or different means. However, lots of them are forcedly repatriated or trafficked, and emerge as withinside the torture and execution of North Korean government. (ANNUAL REPORT: NORTH KOREA 2011, June, 2011)

The political prisoner camp is every other appalling human rights violation in North Korea. Persons who're taken into consideration to be a danger to the regime are incarcerated withinside the jail camps and reduce off from the outdoor of the arena for the relaxation in their lives. According to the “guilty of association” rule, the complete family of the political prisoners can even emerge as in those prisoner camps. In the prisoner camps, masses of heaps of prisoners are strictly managed and significantly tortured by using pressured labour, sexual violence, planned hunger and execution. It is expected that the cruelty withinside the prisoner camps have lasted for greater than 5 decades.

Aside from the aforementioned violations, different styles of human rights violation in North Korea encompass regulations on travel, rights violations towards women, disabled people and so on. The human rights state of affairs in North Korea encompasses the violation of Articles 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN, 2015) the various many others. The state of affairs in North Korea has been defined as being “without parallel in cutting-edge world”. Therefore, it's far essential for worldwide and home actors to take suitable moves to cope with the issue.

CONCLUSION

North Korea is one of the most repressive and isolative country in the world. Basis need for the survival of the human being is being considered as a luxury in North Korea for instance in India a banana is something which is a basic food which we can find in every household but in North Korea the price of 1 kg banana is of Rs. 3300, similarly the consumption of coffee is a daily morning routine for almost everyone but in North Korea the coffee is considered as luxury pricing at Rs 7000. Due the current pandemic the boarders of North Korea have been closed since the beginning of 2020 resulting into the collapsing the economy and pursing the country in the situation of humanitarian crisis. North Korea has openly agreed that agriculture plan has failed and they are experiencing the food crisis. There have been various rumours among which include the insurgence of cannibalism and it has also been reported that North Korean government has passed a law banning the cannibalism. In UN report of 2014 it was suggested that crimes committed by the government of North Korea should be brought in front of International Court of Justice and suggestion suggested by the court should be implemented by the organisation. The situation of North Korea is very serious and it should be immediately dealt by the UNO as the people of North Korea are facing violation of human rights as well as the humanitarian crisis. Diplomatic talks can also be seen as the way forward for the dealing with this situation.