“Many of these abuses are committed in political prison camps where an estimated 80- to 120,000 individuals are detained, including children and the family members of accused”.
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The U.S. Department of State compiled a list of 15 North Korean senior officials and eight agencies responsible for the violation of human rights in a new report and submitted it to Congress.
The ministry added that the move by Washington constituted “the worst hostile act” against Pyongyang, vowing that North Korea would take the “toughest countermeasures” against the United States. The action affects assets within US jurisdiction.
In April, North Korea called U.S.-South Korean military drills “an open declaration of war”.
“The Secretary-General believes that discussion of human rights concerns allows for a more comprehensive assessment and action when addressing security and stability concerns on the Korean Peninsula”, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Professor Kim Yong-Hyun of Dongguk Univesity said the North would ratchet up tension but it would stop short of conducting another nuclear test to avoid alienating further its main ally China.
“Under Kim Jong Un, North Korea continues to inflict intolerable cruelty and hardship on millions of its own people, including extrajudicial killings, forced labour, and torture”, Acting Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Adam J. Szubin said in a statement.
The South Korean government on Thursday lauded the new sanctions by Washington and said it will cooperate in global efforts to curb human violations in Pyongyang. In March, the Security Council imposed harsh new sanctions on the country in response to North Korea’s fourth nuclear test in January and the launch of a long-range rocket in February.
“Human rights abuses in [North Korea] are among the worst in the world”.
The US report states that “The Ministry of People’s Security operates a network of police stations and interrogation detention centers, including labor camps, throughout North Korea” where ” during interrogations, suspects are systematically degraded, intimidated, and tortured”.
But critics say the sanctions are more likely to infuriate North Korea than induce change.
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“North Korea will retaliate vehemently, calling this measure a part of [Washington’s] plan for the collapse of its regime”, Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, told the JoongAng Ilbo Thursday. Unfortunately for the people of North Korea, the sanctions are largely symbolic and will probably do nothing to stop Kim Jong Un from engaging in the type of barbaric behavior that has made him infamous.
