03/13/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-09758

HUMAN RIGHTS IN NORTH KOREA

North Korea, as President George W. Bush said, is a regime that is "arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens." Together with Iran and Iraq, it is part of what President Bush described as "an axis of evil." The U.S. State Department's latest human rights report sheds new light on the extent of human rights abuses taking place there.

North Korea's Communist regime is one of the most repressive in the world. Citizens are subject to the death penalty for attempting to leave the country, criticizing the regime, listening to foreign radio broadcasts, or other so-called "crimes against the revolution." The number of political prisoners and prison camps in North Korea is difficult to determine because of the government's refusal to cooperate with international human rights monitors. But credible reports have identified some thirty labor camps and estimate the number of detainees at as many as two-hundred thousand. Conditions of detention are deplorable and there are credible reports of torture and other abuse.

The government relies on an extensive system of spies and police agents to control the North Korean people. The citizenry is divided into three main categories based on perceived loyalty to the Communist regime. According to some estimates, nearly half the population is rated as "wavering" or "hostile" and is treated accordingly. The loyalty ratings determine access to food, medical care, and other necessities.

Nearly one-quarter of North Korea's budget is spent on its military -- which includes the fifth-largest standing army in the word. Much of the country's technical and scientific resources are wasted on ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction. The Pyongyang regime has produced weapons by the thousands, but it has not produced the food that the North Korean people need to survive. Last year, a North Korean official told a UNICEF conference that more than two-hundred thousand North Koreans died of starvation between 1995 and 1998. The real figure is thought to be much higher. The government blames the famine on drought. But its failed policies were also to blame.

President Bush said he is troubled by a closed regime that tolerates starvation and malnutrition while developing weapons of mass destruction. "I'm deeply concerned about the people of North Korea," he said. "It is important for those of us who love freedom to stand strong for freedom and make clear the benefits of freedom."