[ANALYSIS] North Korea (at least) there is such thing as human rights
This photo, released on Dec. 5 by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, shows children raising their hands to salute during an event in Pyongyang, North Korea. Yonhap
But experts say concept and purpose differ from universal normBy Jung Min-hoNorth Korea claimed, in a white paper on human rights released earlier this week, that its people enjoy “genuine human rights” and denounced the U.S. and other countries in the West for their failures in that area.
Citing the results published by a research society, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said the dignity and basic rights of humans, enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are being violated in those nations, where “social evils are rampant” such as “racism and police brutality.”
Speaking to The Korea Times on Friday, an expert said the publication of such a report ― for the first time since 2014, according to officials in Seoul ― has two implications that should not be overlooked: it suggests that the very concept and purpose of “human rights” in North Korea are fundamentally different from those universally acknowledged; and that the regime, a notorious violator of human rights, would rather hide its human rights abuses with lies rather than deny the existence of such rights.
“The human rights we know transcend borders and cultures. It is the rights we are all born with as human beings. In North Korea, they exist for and by the regime ― the rights a ‘good socialist country’ allows and protects,” said Kang Chae-yeon, a North Korean refugee-turned scholar at the National Institute for Unification Education. “In the North, there is no concept that any rights could exist beyond the sovereignty of a state.”
A vast majority of North Korean escapees say they have never heard of human rights before their escape. That’s because, to the regime, universal rights pose a risk and are not taught in school for that reason, she added.
On a positive note, the release of such reports also suggests that North Korea is nonetheless self-conscious of how it looks to the rest of the world and, therefore, international pressure on the issue could result in the actual improvement of human rights there, experts said.
“If you look at the human rights documents that North Korea sent to international organizations such as the U.N., it is depicted as a utopia where there is no abuse of rights, in contrast to its starkly different reality. This ironically shows that it is conscious of how it is perceived by the international community,” said Lee Ji-yoon, an activist at Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, a Seoul-based NGO.
She believes that the establishment of the North Korean human rights research society, a little-known organization that published the white paper, was part of an international pact or treaty Pyongyang signed in its effort to present itself as a normal country.
All that means making a difference in the lives of ordinary North Koreans isn’t impossible as the regime would pay attention to the voices from other countries even though it may not make systematic changes immediately, she said.
“With that in mind, we should make the most of all the opportunities given to ask questions about North Korea’s human rights situation directly to its officials, such as Universal Periodic Review scheduled for next year,” she added.