Human Rights and Freedom from State Tyranny: North Korea Country Study

Summary

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), or North Korea, is located on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia, neighboring China. It is a unitary republic with a highly repressive one-party dictatorship. It is consistently ranked among the worst violators of human rights by Freedom House.

Modern human habitation of the Korean Peninsula was by peoples migrating from northwest regions of Asia with a distinct culture and language that was later influenced by Chinese-associated rule in the early centuries CE. In the 7th century, the Silla kingdom drove the Chinese military from the peninsula. Two long-lasting dynastic kingdoms followed that ruled Korea until its annexation by the Empire of Japan in 1910.

When the Japanese surrendered to the Allied powers in 1945, US armed forces occupied the South and Soviet armed forces the North by agreement. Each held UN trusteeship. After the USSR’s refusal to negotiate for unified elections, the south held its own elections and established the Republic of Korea (South Korea) in August 1948. The DPRK (North Korea) was established one month later.

In 1950, North Korea asserted a claim of full sovereignty over the peninsula and launched a war against South Korea backed by the Soviet Union and China. The invasion was rebuffed over three years by South Korean armed forces and a UN coalition force led by the United States. The war ended in an armistice in 1953 still dividing the North and South along a Demilitarized Zone still roughly along the 38th parallel. North Korea, initially modeled on Soviet communism, developed its own state ideology, Juche ("self-reliance"). Under Juche, North Korea has been among the most repressive, closed and impoverished states in the world.

North Korea’s homogenous population is approximately 26 million by the United Nation’s 2023 estimate (55th largest in the world). Reliable economic data are lacking, but the United Nations in 2022 ranked North Korea 137th in the world in total GDP output (at around $15 billion). The World Bank, UN and CIA all classify North Korea among the lowest-income countries. The UN estimate for 2021 of GDP per capita was $654 per year (180th of 190 countries). 

History

Ancient History: Gojoseun Kingdom

The Korean Peninsula was first inhabited by peoples migrating from the northwestern regions of Asia speaking a distinct language that was later influenced by Chinese and Japanese.

The first state according to Korean mythology is the Gojoseun, which dates to 2400 BCE. There is evidence of walled city-states around 1,400 BCE with the rise of the first kingdom, called Old Chosun (or Joseun). This period saw the beginning of influence from China. The Han dynasty asserted its influence over the peninsula by establishing four commanderies, or military prefectures, in the first century CE. Current North Korean historiography, based on Juche ideology of “self-reliance” (see below) denies the existence of this period of Chinese dominance.

Other Kingdoms and Dynasties

In the fourth century CE, three Korean kingdoms arose (one in the north, one in the south and one in the central region). Reflecting the continuing influence of China, each adopted Buddhism as the common state religion and Confucian educational practices and introduced Chinese characters and mural art in writing.

Ultimately, the Silla kingdom, with its capital in Gyeongju, allied with the Tang dynasty in China to defeat the other two kingdoms, whose northern territory extended to present-day Manchuria. The Silla Kingdom then drove the Chinese, weakened militarily, off most of the peninsula by the late seventh century to introduce an era of Korean self-reliance and isolation.

The capital Gyeongju, at the time the fourth largest city in the world, was known as the "city of gold" for its temples and other architecture as well as for its high culture. The oldest known example of woodblock printing was discovered in Gyeongju, dating to 750 CE (well before its development in Europe). Typically for the region, the southern kingdom adopted stratified structures with little social mobility. The practices of slavery and indentured servitude were widespread.

The Joseon dynasty . . . developed its own highly ritualistic practices and stratified social structures. It came to be known as “the hermit kingdom” for its enforced isolation from neighboring Japan and China.

Following the decline of the Silla Kingdom in the 10th century, Korea had two long-lasting dynasties, the Goryeo (918–1392) and the Joseon (1392–1897), each reliant on aristocratic structures. The Joseon dynasty's founder, Yi Song-gye, switched the capital to present-day Seoul in order to weaken the old ruling class.

Song-gye instituted a number of reforms aimed at reducing the power of aristocratic clans by placing farmland under state control and strengthening the practice of Confucianism (as opposed to Buddhism) among elites. The Joseon dynasty, however, developed its own highly ritualistic practices and stratified social structures. It came to be known as “the hermit kingdom” for its enforced isolation from neighboring Japan and China.

The Japanese Annexation

The 505-year-old Joseon dynasty and subsequent short-lived Korean Empire under Joseun rule ended when Japan annexed Korea as a colony in 1910. Korean leaders had withstood European and US attempts to control trade from the peninsula. Towards the end of the 19th century, however, they succumbed to Japan’s growing industrial and military power.

Japanese rule, lasting until August 1945, was harsh. Unlike European colonial powers that staffed their colonial bureaucracies with indigenous populations, Japan sent 700,000 administrators to implement a legal system of racial discrimination against ethnic Koreans. The Korean aristocracy was eradicated.

Japanese conglomerates dominated the economy. Forced labor and sexual servitude were widespread. Koreans were forced to abandon Buddhism and Confucianism and worship at Japanese Shinto shrines. The Korean alphabet, language and books were banned. To this day, Japanese history emphasizes positive developments in Korea under its rule (such as industrialization) and downplays its highly repressive character. Korean history depicts the occupation as a tragedy and grave historical injustice.

Resistance to Japanese Rule

There was ongoing resistance to Japanese rule. The most significant event occurred on March 1, 1919, when an estimated 2 million people engaged in protests aimed at liberating Korea from occupation. The protests were forcibly suppressed by security forces with many thousands killed and wounded. Although the resistance movement failed, it led to the establishment of a provisional government-in-exile in Shanghai. Prior to World War II, this was recognized by many states as the legitimate government and South Koreans consider it to be the precursor to the Republic of Korea.

There was ongoing resistance to Japanese rule. The most significant event occurred on March 1, 1919, when an estimated 2 million people engaged in protests aimed at liberating Korea from occupation.

North Korean history bases its legitimacy instead on the communist guerrilla resistance organized against the Japanese invasion in 1937 of neighboring Manchuria. Guerilla fighters created difficulties for the occupation and assisted the Soviet army's late entry into the Asian theater of conflict. The Korean Communist Party guerrillas were the advance guard for the Soviet Union’s occupation of the peninsula’s north at the end of World War II.

Establishment of Two Koreas

That occupation was the result of Allied agreement at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. Per that agreement, the United States armed forces entered southern Korea on September 9, 1945 (after the Soviet army occupied the north). Previously, US President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and China’s Chiang Kai-shek had pledged to establish a "free and independent Korea," but this pledge was abandoned at the Yalta Conference of Roosevelt, Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

The Yalta agreement called for a trusteeship of Korea. To avoid conflict, the US proposed an initial division of the Korean Peninsula along the 38th parallel, a natural marker, with future negotiations to unite the two parts.

The Yalta agreement called for a trusteeship of Korea. To avoid conflict, the US proposed an initial division of the Korean Peninsula along the 38th parallel, a natural marker, with future negotiations to unite the two parts . . . Stalin, however, refused negotiations.

Stalin, however, refused negotiations and installed communist guerrilla leader Kim Il Sung as head of a North Korean Provisional People's Committee to consolidate Soviet control.

The USSR boycotted UN talks for unified elections, which took place only in the south. Syngman Rhee, a member of the south’s provisional government, was elected president. The Republic of Korea (South Korea) was established on August 13, 1948. Kim Il Sung declared the establishment of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) a month later. The name — People’s Republic —mirrored countries in Eastern Europe also under Soviet control.

The Korean Peninsula was thus divided between north and south as profoundly as post–World War II Germany was divided between east and west (see Country Study). The division has been even more long-lasting.

Molding a Militarist Totalitarian State

After the founding of the DPRK, Kim Il Sung followed a strict Soviet model and adopted a doctrinaire Communist (Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist) ideology. Kim’s regime nationalized the economy, confiscated property, collectivized agriculture and built a powerful police state and administrative apparatus. The government imposed a rigid totalitarian system that repressed all political rights and civil liberties. A system of forced labor camps was established in which millions of people have been punished.

Kim’s regime nationalized the economy, confiscated property, collectivized agriculture and built a powerful police state and administrative apparatus. The government imposed a rigid totalitarian system that repressed all political rights and civil liberties.

Drawing upon Soviet-trained anti-Japanese guerrillas and Korean veterans of the Chinese Communist revolution, Kim built a large army and directed his efforts toward reunifying the peninsula by force. With Stalin's approval, he launched a nearly successful military invasion of the South in 1950. A UN coalition force, comprised of fifteen nations led by the US, intervened to help the South Korean army push the invasion force back.

Chinese intervention on the North’s side prevented the South’s outright victory and prolonged the fighting for three years ending in a stalemate. An armistice was signed in 1954 leaving rival armies in place across a demilitarized zone (DMZ), dividing the peninsula roughly along the same 38th parallel. There were more than a million civilian and military deaths during the war.

Kim Il Sung never accepted the war’s outcome. Among other initiatives, he constructed hundreds of miles of tunnels designed for another secret strike. To this date, a peace agreement has not been signed. To deter a future invasion, approximately 28,500 US troops remain in South Korea. Intermittent talks between North and South Korea to formally end the war failed, although there were some agreements resulting in family re-unification meetings and a joint manufacturing facility (the North-South Kaesong Industrial Complex).

North Korea’s Unique Communism: Juche

As with Marxism-Leninism in the Soviet Union and Maoism in the People's Republic of China, a distinct ideological variant of communism was developed in North Korea. It is called Juche (self-reliance) and controls all aspects of life in North Korea. Under Juche, the military, not industry or agriculture, is the central element of the North's economy. It is the source of both wealth and stature and forms the basis of North Korea’s class structure.

As with Marxism-Leninism in the Soviet Union and Maoism in the People's Republic of China, a distinct ideological variant of communism was developed in North Korea. It is called Juche (self-reliance) and controls all aspects of life in North Korea.

North Korea’s Juche ideology transformed Kim Il Sung into a mythic figure central to the DPRK's birth and existence (see also below) and was used by him to maneuver between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. After Kim Il Sung's death in 1994, his son, Kim Jong Il, was appointed head of the Korean Workers' Party (KWP), head of state and chairman of the National Defense Commission (the DPRK’s highest political office at the time).

North Korea’s centrally planned economy under Kim Jong Il declined to the point of near collapse. Barter became the normal means of exchange. From 1995 to 1998, North Korea experienced widespread famine, which ended only when the government abandoned its “self-reliance” principle to accept offers of food, medical and other aid from the international community. Food shortages resulted in two million deaths. Thereafter, the system stabilized, but North Korea remains impoverished. Its human rights situation is discussed below.

Human Rights

Korea’s history, rich in civilization and culture, was dominated by monarchical ruling structures that restricted the development of political freedom and civil liberties and isolated the peninsula from outside influences. Korea’s longest-ruling dynasty of 505 years ended in 1897. A short-lived Korean Empire followed, ended in 1910 by Japan with military occupation and annexation. Japan's harsh colonial rule set out to destroy Korean economic, cultural and social structures.

Towards the end of WWII, by Allied agreement at the Yalta Conference held in early 1945, the Soviet Union and United States occupied Korea in the north and south, respectively, with a division at the 38th parallel. When Soviet leader Joseph Stalin refused UN talks for unified elections, the division of the peninsula became permanent with the creation of two distinct states in August and September 1948. North Korea invaded the south in 1950 starting a four-year war that ended in an armistice that has continued the division of the peninsula until today.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in the north modeled itself on the Soviet Union but then adopted a distinct communist state ideology centered around the military and absolute loyalty to its dynastic leadership.

The Republic of Korea (ROK) in the south, which was backed by UN and US forces during the war, had a period of military dictatorship until 1979. Thereafter South Korea emerged as a stable democracy with a thriving economy (the world’s 13th largest by nominal GDP). The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in the north modeled itself on the Soviet Union but then adopted a distinct communist state ideology centered around the military and absolute loyalty to its dynastic leadership. By contrast with South Korea, North Korea is among the most impoverished in the world.

In the DPRK, citizens are deprived of all human rights and suffer under a totalitarian regime that controls all aspects of their lives. North Korea's original constitution established a “dictatorship of people’s democracy” under the control of the Korean Workers Party. In its adapted form (see below), the constitution imposed a governing structure built around a single leader, Kim Il Sung, and ensured dynastic succession by his son and grandson.

All three leaders have held power by controlling a vast military and security apparatus and through purges and arbitrary executions, mass imprisonment, state control over information and the economy and enforcing political and social conformity of every citizen. Millions of citizens have died due to state oppression, government-caused famine and other causes.

The Cult of Personality

The Soviet-modeled constitution is supplemented by the Ten Principles of the One-System Ideology, formally adopted in 1974 during the Sino-Soviet split. It institutes North Korea’s distinct communist system known as Juche (self-reliance), which was centered around absolute loyalty to the leader.

In North Korean propaganda, Kim Il Sung achieves God-like status as “the tender-hearted father of all the people” whose “heart is a centripetal force uniting the [people] as one.”

The first principle is, “We must give our all in the struggle to unify the entire society with the revolutionary ideology of the Great Leader Kim Il Sung.” The third is, “We must make absolute the authority of the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung.” Citizens must follow the Ten Principles and are required to memorize, study and reflect on them in organized self-criticism sessions.

In North Korean propaganda, Kim Il Sung achieves God-like status as “the tender-hearted father of all the people” whose “heart is a centripetal force uniting the [people] as one.” Questioning of Kim Il Sung's "love" and "paternity" of North Koreans still results in imprisonment or death. His son and grandson, Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong-un, have similar but lesser cult-of-personality status as “Supreme Leaders” but their legitimacy is through the original “Father” of the nation. Kim Il Sung is now called “Eternal Leader.”

In practice, each leader consolidated his power through three positions: as head of the Korean Workers Party; as head of state; and as head of the National Defense Commission (now called the State Affairs Commission). A stratified governance structure exists around a core of apparatchiks deemed politically loyal. The individuals who comprise this inner core may change suddenly since purges of higher officials are frequent to prevent any individual from gaining enough influence to challenge the Supreme Leader.

No Freedom From State Tyranny

All political, social, and economic institutions in North Korea are controlled by the state, the ruling party and the military. All facets of a person’s life, including employment, education, residence and access to medical facilities and stores, are determined through a system of social classification. Citizens are given security ratings under three main classifications according to their families’ assessed loyalty to the leader: “core,” “wavering” and “hostile.” There are then fifty-three subgroupings.

All political, social, and economic institutions in North Korea are controlled by the state, the ruling party and the military. All facets of a person’s life, including employment, education, residence and access to medical facilities and stores, are determined through a system of social classification.

Elections to the 687-member Supreme Peoples’ Assembly, held every five years, are pre-determined. The Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland selects all candidates, who run un-opposed. There is near-100 percent turnout and support for each candidate.

All media is an instrument of state propaganda and the ruling ideology. There is no independent media. Any outside information comes from foreign radios; it is a crime to listen to them. Religious worship is allowed through institutions linked to the state. Owning a Bible is illegal and may result in imprisonment or even execution. Black markets or individual economic transactions are tolerated but under the strict control of a division of the security services.

Freedom of movement is forbidden. Trying to leave the country without permission is considered a treasonous act. Even so, tens of thousands have tried to cross to South Korea, often in a round-about way through China. Those who succeeded have provided first-hand witness testimony of North Korea’s gruesome regime (see Resources). Many, however, fail and are forcibly returned by China and either imprisoned or executed.

The Machinery of Terror

The North Korean state maintains a vast prison system modeled on the Soviet Gulag’s penal labor prisons and slave labor camps. The network of penal labor colonies, called Kwanliso, is overseen by the National Security Agency. The total number imprisoned since 1948 is unknown but it counts millions of people. In 2013, the estimate of prisoners held in that year was between 80,000 and 130,000 people (down from 250,000 to 300,000 previously). No independent judiciary or due process exists.

The National Safety Agency (akin to a normal police) runs a separate prison system for supposed common criminals. The rate of death in both types of prison camps is high due to harsh conditions of overwork and lack of nourishment.

In addition, the police run detention facilities where unsuccessful refugee and economic migrants are kept. These prisons swelled during the period of famine when many peasants were imprisoned for supposedly stealing food.

Dynastic Succession

On the death of his father in 2011, Kim Jong-un was declared “Supreme Leader” by the head of the Supreme People’s Assembly. Like his grandfather and father, Kim Jong-un assumed all top positions (First Secretary and member of the Presidium of the Korean Workers’ Party, president of the State Affairs of Commission, Supreme Commander and Marshal of the Korean People’s Army, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission and National Defense Commission).

To consolidate power, Kim Jong-un quickly carried out purges of the state and party leadership. Among those purged were all the pall bearers (other than himself) at his father’s funeral, including four officials his father chose to be Kim Jong-un’s political mentors. In December 2013, the regime also announced the summary execution of Jang Song-thaek, who was Eternal Leader Kim Il Sung’s brother-in-law and, at the time, held the second most powerful post within the state hierarchy. Jang’s military associates and family members were also executed.

In his New Year’s message ushering in 2014, Kim Jong-un said that he had acted to tighten the Party’s “revolutionary ranks by making a timely decision to ferret out and purge the anti-party, anti-revolutionary factional clique.” Purges continued.

In his New Year’s message ushering in 2014, Kim Jong-un said that he had acted to tighten the Party’s “revolutionary ranks by making a timely decision to ferret out and purge the anti-party, anti-revolutionary factional clique.” Purges continued. In March 2015, for example, Kim Jong-un gathered hundreds of officials to witness the public execution of the Minister of Defense by means of an anti-aircraft missile fired at short distance. One report stated that he was executed for having fallen asleep during one of Kim’s speeches.

The Drive for Nuclear Weapons

Despite the country’s destitution, Kim Jong-un continued his father’s and grandfather’s policies, begun in the early 1980s, to devote state resources to develop a stockpile of nuclear weapons. He often threatens their use against the United States and South Korea. The effort began under Kim Il Sung in the early 1980s but was accelerated under his son in the mid-1990s. The UN has engaged in numerous efforts to suspend North Korea’s nuclear program. Kim Jong Il reneged on several international agreements to suspend nuclear development both in the 1990s and 2000s.

The UN Security Council adopted a new regime of international sanctions in 2009 after Kim Jong Il withdrew from the last such agreement. The sanctions aim to prevent trade of military and nuclear technology to North Korea as well as to put economic pressure on the regime. President Obama instituted additional sanctions in January 2015 following a North Korean cyberattack on the Sony Corporation for its production and distribution of a movie that included a fictional plot to kill Kim Jong-un. In 2016, the UN Security Council adopted new stringent measures aimed at curtailing its nuclear program, including inspections of cargo ships and new sanctions on luxury goods, technology and arms.

The sanctions regime has not ended North Korea’s further nuclear development (see Current Issues below).

Without "Parallel in the Contemporary World”

[The UN report] declared that the government of North Korea had committed “a wide array of crimes against humanity. . . . [T]he gravity, scale and nature of these [human rights] violations reveal a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world.

In March 2013, the UN Human Rights Council took the unusual step of establishing a Commission of Inquiry (COI) to investigate human rights violations in the DPRK (the only other active COI was for Syria). The government refused to cooperate with the Commission of Inquiry but its members held extensive hearings in a number of countries to receive oral and written testimony from victims and first-hand witnesses.

In February 2014, the COI issued a comprehensive report (see link in Resources). It declared that the government of North Korea had committed “a wide array of crimes against humanity, arising from . . . policies established at the highest level of State.” It further stated that “the gravity, scale and nature of these [human rights] violations reveal a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world.”

Current Issues

In May 2016, Kim Jong-un presided over the first Congress of the Korean Workers Party held since 1980. The stage-managed event was held to reinforce the role of the KWP as the “leading party” in the state machinery and to more fully coronate him as its leader.  During the Congress, Kim Jong-un repeated his determination for North Korea to be a nuclear power, claiming this gave the country “dignity.”

After the Congress, the Supreme Peoples’ Assembly followed direction to establish a new State Affairs Commission as the supreme state authority. Kim was named chairman and thus head of state. He was “re-elected” to the position in 2019 with a revised title: “Supreme Representative of all the Korean People and the Supreme Leader of the Republic.”

Reforms aimed at improving production and delivery of food and other goods allowed the development of small-scale local markets. These, together with a black market in bartered goods, account for much of North Korea’s economic activity. However, they have become prime targets of corrupt police officers, who solicit bribes from operators and detain those who cannot pay. Market participants also pay bribes to supervisors at their official workplaces to avoid discipline or imprisonment for abandoning state-assigned roles.

In 2020, in response to the Covid 19 epidemic, the government closed its borders (among the few countries to do so). It banned international travel and restricted domestic travel, further closing the country off from the world. The government refused international support and vaccines and claimed there were no cases of Covid 19 in 2020 and 2021. A first outbreak of cases was announced by the government in May-June 2022 with an unspecified number of deaths. This and a second outbreak resulted in full lockdowns, however in 2023 North Korea eased restrictions to allow citizens abroad to return and to resume trade and diplomatic engagement. According to eye-witness accounts, the impact on the economy was high.

The United Nations Human Rights Council continues efforts to monitor human rights in North Korea despite the government’s rejection to allow any representatives entrance to the country. In March 2021, the Council adopted a resolution citing “systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea that, in many instances, constitute crimes against humanity.” These include mass political imprisonment, executions, and forced labor both of prisoners and the general population.

Since 2016, North Korea resumed underground nuclear tests and missile testing, defying the international community’s efforts to restrict its nuclear weapons development. After threatening to “rain fire and fury” on North Korea in 2017, President Donald Trump met with Kim Jong-un in two summits in 2018 and 2019. Trump professed to engage in close personal correspondence with Kim (describing them as “love letters”), but neither meeting nor subsequent diplomacy, including a third meeting in Korea at the DMZ, resulted in curtailing nuclear weapons or missile testing.

In 2023, Kim Jong-un had two meetings with Russian Federation president Vladimir Putin. From those meetings, North Korea agreed to provide Russia weaponry (especially artillery munitions and missiles) in its war against Ukraine. In June 2024, Putin made a state visit to North Korea, where the two leaders signed a “strategic partnership” that pledged mutual defense in the event of attack. The agreements between the two countries  have meant North Korea helping the Russian Federation get around international sanctions aimed at limiting its military weapons production. It has provided a large amount of artillery munitions and other weapons. In exchange, the Russian Federation is providing technology for North Korea’s missile program.