HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CONTINUES EXAMINATION OF CIVIL, POLITICAL RIGHTS IN THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Human Rights Committee
72nd session
20 July 2001
Morning





Delegation Says United States Military Presence in the Peninsula
is a Threat to National Security



The Human Rights Committee this morning continued its examination of a second periodic report from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea by hearing a Government delegation say that the United States military presence in the Korean peninsula was a threat to the national security of the country.

The delegation told the 18-member Committee that for the last 50 years, the southern part of the peninsula had been guarded by a 100,000-member United States army which was a threat to the national security of the country. Even with the end of the "Cold War" and the establishment of good relationships between the United States and the powers in the region, the US military presence was still there which greatly threatened the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

During their consideration of the report, Committee Experts focused on "collectivity of rights" which they said had excluded the practice of individual rights as provided for in the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights. Several Experts also raised questions on issues such as the role of the people's committees; about the prevailing "Juche" doctrine; the death penalty; the absence of non-governmental organizations operating in the country; and malnutrition because of food shortages, among other things.

As one of the 148 States parties to the Covenant, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is obligated to prepare periodic reports to be submitted to the Committee on how it was giving effect to the provisions of the treaty.

The Committee will conclude its consideration of the report of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea when it reconvenes at 3 p.m.

Discussion of Report of Democratic People's Republic of Korea

At the beginning of the meeting, Committee Experts continued to raise questions on a number of issues. Experts focused on "collectivity of rights" which they said had excluded the practice of individual rights as provided for in the Covenant. Although the country claimed the prevailing of the people's will and the victory of the working class and socialism, people should not be subjected to follow "one line of thinking". People were led to believe in man as in God. The Experts wondered if that was a Korean style of human rights. With regard to malnutrition, they said that although the Government had taken measures to resolve the food problem that the country was facing, the nation should open up a little so that food assistance could flow in from international donors.

The delegation had said that individual incidents of beatings had taken place in detention places, Committee Experts said, adding that a report they had received had suggested the practice of extra-judicial executions in "concentration camps". The deaths of people due to hard labour, shortages of food and difficult conditions could amount to extra-judicial killings. Concerning the right to freedom of movement, which was the right under article 12 of the Covenant, domestic travels by citizens were tightly controlled. In addition, permission was needed to travel abroad, and unlawful crossing of borders was criminalized. Persons who travelled abroad without exit visas could face a seven-year prison sentence.

Further, Committee members said that the delegation had mentioned that the ideal foundation and the guiding principle of the country's human rights system was the "Juche" ideology. That was the official ideology which should be followed by the people as a national doctrine. Did the former President Kim Il Sung impose that ideology? Who was the main interpreter of that philosophy at present? With regard to people's committees, Experts said that they had immense power, and asked who was monitoring their activities. How many subversive cases or spies were tried during the last five years?

Committee members said that the closed society of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea did not allow international inspection of detention places, nor did it aid monitoring of human rights activities. Reputable international human rights monitoring organizations should be permitted to conduct non-supervised visits to the country. For example, the last time Amnesty International visited one of the re-education centres was in 1995, and that was a guided visit, preventing Amnesty delegates from questioning prisoners.

In response to a number of questions raised by Committee members, the delegation said that the questions were similar and redundant, and some of them were choking. They said that the minimum age for the imposition of the death penalty was 18 years, in accordance with the provisions of the Covenant. There was no immediate plan to abolish the death penalty; if the two Koreas reunited, if there were no external interventions, and if there was no danger of infiltration into the country, the issue of the death penalty would be resolved.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea was the first tax-free country, the delegation said. The Government hoped that this would build a crime-free society.

In time of a state of war, the command of the country was confined to the national defence commission, the delegation said. As was stipulated in article 59 of the Republic's Constitution, the national defence commission assumed the national interest and would defend the rights of the population. However, it was not involved in daily maintenance of the people's life. In the past, "peace and war" issues used to be decided by the Supreme People's Assembly. But since 1994, due to the prevailing situation, the national defence commission decided on the issue of "war and peace". This had been decided because in a situation of emergency, it would be inconvenient to call the 700-member Supreme People's Assembly to decide on prevailing issues .

The requirements of the Covenant were not fully reflected and defined in the Constitution, the delegation said. The Constitution did not interpret the provisions on an article-by-article basis. In matters of elections, for example, foreigners were excluded but that did not mean that their other rights were not respected.

On the issue of "Juche", the delegation said that it was a philosophy which emanated from the concept that the human being was the master of nature and society. Only human beings could dominate and transform the world; and the "Juche" philosophy was based on the principle that man was the master of everything. The ideology was not restricted to a nation but it had a universal value. President Kim Il Sung was behind that philosophy which was developed 70 years ago in the course of the liberation struggle. It was later enriched by the present leader.

When the delegation introduced the report yesterday, it was also said that the "Juche" idea was based on the philosophical principle that man was the master of everything and decided everything. That idea required that one solved all problems on one's own responsibility, in conformity with one's own situation and by one's own efforts under the principle of thinking of everything with the masses of people in the centre and making everything serve for people. Following that idea, the Government had established the outlook and standpoint that human rights were needed for people and should be enjoyed by people, and therefore anything to the liking of people should immediately be the just standard of human rights.

The role of the people's committees was to represent and to protect the people's interests and rights within their regions from outside interventions, the delegation said. They did not intervene in the private affairs of individuals, instead they protected the private lives of individuals from any external interference.

It was an uncomfortable comment on the part of the Expert to say that the society of the Democratic People's Republic of Korean society was not open, the delegation said. For the last 50 years, the southern part of the peninsula had been guarded by a 100,000-member United States army and that was a threat to the national security of the country. Despite the end of the "cold war" and the establishment of good relationships between the United States and the powers in the region, the US military presence was still clear. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea was greatly threatened by the continued United States military presence in the Korean peninsula. The country was in a belligerent situation with external powers attempting to overthrow the regime.

Concentration camps did not exist in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the delegation affirmed.

With regard to food distribution, the delegation said that the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and other international organizations had opened offices in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and had pursued their activities. There had been an incident concerning a French non-governmental organization (NGO), Anti-Hunger Action, on the modality of its distribution of food. The members of that NGO had arrogantly attempted to hand out food on the streets, and the people's sentiments were incensed by such a humiliating act. The Government had preferred that the NGO concentrate its activities in centres where people could come to be served, but since it did not accept that proposition, its members had left the country.



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