U.N. presses North Korea for details on executions under new thought-crime law

SEOUL, Aug. 27 (UPI) – United Nations Human Rights Council investigators recently sent a letter to North Korea asking for explanations regarding alleged kill orders at the borders and a recently passed law against “reactionary” thinking linked to executions.

The August 23 letter was sent by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in North Korea Tomas Ojea Quintana and Special Rapporteurs on Extrajudicial Killings and Freedom of Expression.

“We are concerned about the shot-at-sight policy of unauthorized entry into the buffer zone along the northern border, as well as the death penalty without judicial guarantees for acts that appear to be guaranteed by international human rights law,” it said in the letter.

Investigators responded to documents detailing North Korean policies, photos of which were first obtained from the online news site Daily NK. The information was presented to UN human rights experts in July together with the Transitional Justice Working Group, a Seoul-based human rights NGO.

According to a document, North Korea set up a one to two kilometer wide buffer zone along its northern border a year ago and ordered that anyone who entered illegally be “unconditionally shot”.

North Korea closed its borders in January 2020 to protect itself from COVID-19, a move that has taken a heavy economic toll on the country.

Pyongyang also passed an “Anti-Reactionary Thoughts” law in December, providing sentences ranging from forced labor to death for crimes such as importing and distributing videos and books from South Korea, the United States and Japan. Pornography and the use of unregistered televisions, radios, computers and cell phones are also prohibited. The law also prohibits speaking, writing, or singing in the South Korean style.

Authorities publicly executed a man in April for selling CDs and USBs filled with South Korean films, TV shows and music videos, according to Daily NK.

Pyongyang has long tried to restrict the flow of information into the tightly controlled state, but the dire economic situation caused by the ongoing border closure has put the country’s leadership to the test, said Ethan Hee-Seok Shin, a legal analyst with the Transitional Justice Working Group.

“North Korea is facing what is likely to be the worst economic crisis since the 1990s,” said Shin. “This means that popular discontent is growing and the North Korean authorities want to tighten their ideological control. They are trying to cut off these disruptive ideas from abroad.”

The UN investigators are calling on Pyongyang to explain how the measures correspond to North Korea’s obligations under international human rights treaties. They are also looking for more information on the application of the anti-reactionary law of thought – “particularly the number of executions carried out,” the letter says.

It is unclear whether North Korea will respond to the UN request. However, Shin said the rapporteurs’ letter could help put pressure on North Korea.

“Pyongyang pretends that they don’t care about this kind of discourse or about the UN human rights bodies, but they actually do – not least because they are always afraid that the North Korean situation will affect them [International Criminal Court] from the UN Security Council, “said Shin.

The letter will do ” [Pyongyang] “We hope that further measures of this kind will at least help curb human rights violations in North Korea.”