Prison camps? North Korea calls them ‘reform centers’

UNITED NATIONS – North Korea said it has no prison camps but admitted having what it calls “reform through labor detention centers.”

The country’s diplomats responded to criticism from a hard-hitting United Nations report and US Secretary of State John Kerry on what America’s top diplomat termed an “evil system” of prison camps.

North Korean officials took exception to a ministerial-level meeting on Pyongyang’s human rights record that took place at the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on September 23. The meeting discussed the UN report, which was highly critical of North Korea’s network of prison camps.

“There is no prison camps in our country. Even in practice, there’s no things (sic) like that,” said North Korean official Choe Myong Nam at a briefing at the UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday, September 7.

“In law and practice, we have detention centers whereby people improve their mentality, wrongdoings and they are reformed through labor. That’s the center. That’s what we call ‘reform through labor detention center,’” he added.

Ri Tong Il, North Korea’s Deputy Ambassador to the UN, said he wanted to correct “distorted truths and misinformation being proliferated” as seen in the meeting on his country’s human rights situation.

He cited a lengthy report of North Korea’s Association for Human Rights Studies, which said that Pyongyang has “the world’s most advantageous human rights system.”

“People enjoy rights ranging from political freedom, freedom of speech and assembly, protection of the rights of the disabled, the full range,” Ri said.

The 109-page report released in September was in stark contrast to what international human rights groups called a watershed report of the UN Commission of Inquiry for North Korea concluded last February. 

The thorough UN report details “extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions” as among North Korea’s “unspeakable atrocities.” Defectors and refugees testified before the UN that prisoners were held in stress positions, starved and executed.

“The gravity, scale and nature of these violations revealed a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world,” the UN report said.

The UN report compared the North Korean regime’s acts to those of Nazi Germany or Stalin’s Gulags. The Economist described the findings as “humanity at its very worst.”

‘Bath facilities only rights problem’

Yet in response to reporters’ questions, North Korean officials downplayed the country’s human rights violations.

“There might be some problems, for example in the economic and other areas. We may need to establish more houses, social facilities in order to provide people with better living conditions …. We need some facilities whereby people go and enjoy a bath or something like that,” said Choe.

North Korean officials again blamed the US’ “hostile policy” of imposing a political, military and economic blockade as the cause of “obstacles” to the promotion of human rights.

“Due to some problems in the economic field, because of the external forces’ hindrance, we are running short of some of the facilities. For example, for the people to come and enjoy the bath, if we develop the economic construction, build more facilities then the enjoyment of the people may be further expanded,” Choe said.

Ri also criticized the US. “When the US is talking about human rights violations in DPRK (North Korea), it is totally hypocritical behavior.”

North Korea claims that the US and its allies politicize human rights to intervene in its affairs and cause a regime change. The Kim dynasty ruled Pyongyang for more than 60 years while stifling dissent and developing a nuclear program.

In dialogue with EU

Ri said North Korea remains open to dialogue and cooperation on human rights. He revealed that Pyongyang is in talks with the European Union (EU).

“We are expecting [at] the end of this year to open the political dialogue. We expect it to be followed by a human rights dialogue between the two sides,” Ri said.

The deputy ambassador rejected the annual UN resolution that the EU and Japan sponsor on North Korea’s human rights record.

“The DPRK remains consistent that this kind of behavior of selecting individual countries on the pretext of human rights is not helpful in [fostering] understanding between countries but only increases misunderstanding between countries,” Ri said. 

Representatives from Cuba, Egypt and Venezuela who attended the briefing commended North Korea for insisting that human rights investigations and resolutions should be “non-selective” and “impartial.”

Human rights groups though are urging the UN to refer the report to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or to create a special tribunal. North Korea’s ally China is expected to veto any resolution before the UN Human Rights Council. China is a permanent member of the Council. 

“The UN was set up in the aftermath of the Second World War precisely to address this kind of massive abuse,” said Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth. 

“The atrocities described in this report are a profound challenge to the founding ideals of the UN and should shock the organization into bold action. The suffering and loss endured by victims demand swift and definitive action aimed at bringing those responsible to justice.” – Rappler.com

Rappler multimedia reporter Ayee Macaraig is a 2014 fellow of the Dag Hammarskjöld Fund for Journalists. She is in New York to cover the UN General Assembly, foreign policy, diplomacy, and world events.