North Korean Horrors

Out of sight, out of mind. This phrase comes to mind when I think of how the world treats North Korea. It is easy for us to ignore something if we don’t know exactly what’s going on, and all we do hear comes in form of rumours. That excuse for doing little can be no longer. The report leased on Monday by the UN is truly disgusting, and it spares no details.

The story of a six year old girl beaten to death for stealing a small amount of grain is one of the most horrific. A woman who fled to China, but was later deported back to North Korea, was forced to drown her baby immediately after birth as the father was Chinese. The North Korean regime is obsessed with racial purity. The North Koreans are so terrified that when a man dropped a machine in the factory he works at, he was grateful that he only had one finger chopped off.

All of these horrific cases, and more, are contained in the UN report.

The concentration camps which hold 100,000s of citizens are worryingly similar to the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. Forced abortions, beatings, rape, summary executions and starvation are commonplace in these monstrous camps. After the horrors of WWII we said never again. After Cambodia we said never again. After Rwanda we said never again. After Bosnia we said never again. Will we ignore North Korea and when it’s all over say never again?

The UN was also critical of China for sending fleeing North Koreans back to the country, despite full knowledge of the conditions. This is probably part of the reason why China has criticised the report as being “unreasonable”. Although Chinese officials seem to have acknowledged that North Korea is committing human rights abuses, they claim that the UN report is not the way to go about helping the situation. The Chinese are also aware of human rights abuses in their own country and fear setting a precedent of the UN acting on these issues.

Michael Kirby, the chairman of the inquiry that released the report sent an open letter to North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-Un. In the letter he requested that Kim present himself before the inquiry to explain himself. The letter also warned Kim that he would be held accountable under international law, suggesting that he might get tried by the International Criminal Court.

So what should the world do? Well I certainly agree with the idea of trying them at the ICC, even in abstentia. Other than that, it is a difficult issue. Economic sanctions are already pretty tight, so it is difficult to see how much tighter they could be. Military intervention is out of the question as the ensuing war would cost the lives of millions of people. The only other thing we could do is pressure China to do something. China is North Korea’s only remaining friend in the world and the only country with any influence over the Hermit Kingdom.

The issue of North Korea is a difficult one, but one which we cannot, in all good conscience, ignore. 

A rare picture of a North Korean Concentration Camp
source: Policymic