SEOUL, June 28 (AJU PRESS) - The Ministry of Unification Thursday released an extensive report detailing North Korea's human rights abuses.
The 482-page-long report, the second of its kind, aims to raise awareness about the egregious human rights violations in North Korea, similar to U.S. State Department's annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
This year's edition, compiled from over 150 new testimonies from North Korean defectors, provides a detailed analysis of recent human rights issues in the reclusive country.
According to the report, one defector recalled witnessing the public execution of a 22-year-old man "for listening to about 70 South Korean songs and watching a couple of South Korean films," suggesting the North Korean regime's strict control over the influx of foreign culture.
The report also documents numerous cases of tortures and includes vivid testimonies from the defectors. It reveals that many North Koreans who attempted to defect to South Korea or were caught faced severe punishment, sexual assault, and hard labor after being forcibly repatriated from countries like China. Some North Korean women who became pregnant by Chinese men along the border areas underwent forced abortions.
Additionally, the report includes a four-minute-long video clip, which features an impressive statement from Oh Joon, former South Korean Ambassador to the UN, made during a Security Council meeting in December 2024: "For South Koreans, people in North Korea are not just any bodies," which resonated strongly with the international community.
