State Department’s New Country Report on Human Rights in North Korea Disappoints

The main development I take from the report it is that the regime seems to be moving in the direction of decentralizing its political detention system, opening up more smaller (and less visible) detention centers and possibly closing down one of the largest camps.

The same NGO reported the police began to dismantle the sixth facility, Bukchang (Camp 18) in South Pyongan Province, in 2006 and it was unclear if the camp remained in operation in 2011.

The NGO is the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights.

The report falls short on most other aspects of North Korea’s human rights situation, frequently citing a lack of information when multiple defector reports and clandestine news reports could have supported reasonable inferences. For example, the report said it had “no known information” about whether arrestees are afforded a right to counsel, but given the presence of 23,000 defectors in South Korea and the availability of scholarly reports compiling their testimonies, is that really true?

The most glaring deficiency in the report was its failure to devote any specific discussion to the right to food. Although the report alluded to the unequal distribution of or the short supply of food in passing in several places, it failed to mention the evidence of widespread and systematic misallocation of food, and the use of food as a weapon against its own people. In a country that still exercises so much control over the distribution of food, that may be the most important human rights violation in North Korea today, the one that’s causing more suffering and death than any other, and one that important implications for U.S. humanitarian aid policy. Overall, the report smacks of cautious and hurried writing. That’s unfortunate, because these reports are frequently cited in immigration proceedings by would-be refugees. A refugee asking for asylum on the basis that her family is denied rations because of her songbun — that is, her political caste status — is out of luck. Indeed, the report draws no connection between songbun and starvation. Meanwhile, the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea will launch an extensive report on songbun next week. Would it have been so difficult for State to get an advance executive summary?

The report also contains an unattributed citation to this site when it says of Camp 22, “Based on satellite imagery and defector testimony, one kwan-li-so camp, Camp 22, was estimated to be 31 miles long and 25 miles wide and hold 50,000 inmates.” I suppose non-attribution is the price of being an obstreperous crank, but in my case, it’s still outweighed by the many joys of being an obstreperous crank. However the truth finds its way into the public discourse is fine with me, as long as it does. I’m also glad to see extensive citations to Marcus Noland and Stephan Haggard’s new book. They’ve done tremendous and enlightening research, so the honor is well deserved. The greatest honor to Marcus and Stephan, however, is their implied denunciation by KCNA. I have no higher aspiration than for KCNA to call me “human scum.”