The regression in the human rights situation in North Korea is so serious that the simple consumption of a foreign television series can be punished with the death penalty, the High Commissioner for Human Rights of North Korea warned this Wednesday before the Security Council. the UN, Volker Türk.
Türk painted a gloomy panorama of what life in the Asian country entails in a periodic session to study the reality in one of the most secretive territories in the world, which has been governed by a communist-style dynasty since 1948.
“A suffocating and claustrophobic environment, where life is a daily struggle devoid of hope“, summarized Türk, who described the main factors that define these restrictions: lack of free movement, repression of freedom of expression, socioeconomic conditions”unbearably hard”, the reality of forced labor and arbitrary detentions, along with the absence of due judicial process.
The punishment for consuming or spreading the so-called ‘reactionary culture’ deserves a specific legal article, which includes in the worst case the death penalty for clandestinely consuming foreign media or television series, and another law protects parents from being penalized. for the actions of their children in this regard.
North Koreans further find that it is “practically impossible” leave the country without specific permission from the Government, which aggravates the phenomenon of Korean families divided between the two countries in the north and south of the peninsula.
Physical access to food has become another problem that has worsened since the Government has closed the street markets – known as ‘jangmadang’ – increasingly centralizing food production, which has resulted in “Half of the population has suffered food insecurity in recent years”.
If the international community allows the isolation of this regime to continue, all these problems can get even worse, which is why Türk called on other countries to “Be creative in finding ways to rekindle the dialogue” with the country.
“The landscape of misery, repression, fear, hunger and hopelessness is deeply alarming“, he synthesized.
Source: Gestion
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