11/18/2014

European Union intends to stop crimes against humanity in North Korea

60,000 Christians in prison camps – United Nations decide on involvement of the International Criminal Court

[Translate to Englisch:] © darwin Bell/Flickr

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) welcomes an initiative of the European Union and Japan to entrust the International Criminal Court to investigate crimes against humanity in North Korea. "In North Korea, we observe religious persecution, imprisonment, torture, labor camps, forced relocation, shootings, rapes, forced sterilization and arbitrary starvation of the population – turning the whole country into an unprecedented prison camp. Now, after six decades of murder, those who are responsible for these crimes against humanity must be finally be held accountable," said the STP's Asia-consultant, Ulrich Delius, in Göttingen on Tuesday. The STP pointed out that about 60,000 of the 100,000 prison camp inmates are Christians. "It is the Christians who suffer the most from this dictatorship: they make up the largest group of the political prisoners, but only about 300,000 of the 24.5 million inhabitants of North Korea."

Today, the Human Rights Committee of the UN General Assembly will decide over a draft resolution produced by the European Union and Japan, demanding the Security Council to involve the International Criminal Court. The initiative is supported by 48 states. In recent weeks, North Korea had started a "charm offensive" to stop the dossier from being passed on to the International Criminal Court: Foreign prisoners were released – and Marzuki Darusman, the Special Representative of the UN Human Rights Council for North Korea, was invited to visit the country. In October 2014 – for the first time in ten years – North Korean diplomats also invited the UN Special Envoy to discuss the human rights situation in the country.

A commission of inquiry appointed by the UN Human Rights Council had investigated for eleven months and then published a comprehensive 400-page report on the crimes in North Korea in February 2014. "This report documents the darkest sides of Kim Jong Un's reign of terror," reported Delius. "If there are to be global efforts to fight impunity, North Korea's crimes should not go unpunished."

To avoid a trial in The Hague, North Korea's leadership decided to send envoy Choe Ryong Hae to Moscow. He will try to convince Russia to veto against an involvement of the International Criminal Court. President Vladimir Putin is likely to comply with this request.


Ulrich Delius, head of STP's Asia department, is available for further questions: +49 551 49906 27 orasien@gfbv.de


Header Photo: darwin Bell/Flickr