Description:
The War Crimes Committee of the International Bar Association invites you to the launch of a Report on the findings of a nearly two-year Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity in North Korean Political Prisons. The Inquiry Report finds reasonable grounds to conclude that Kim Jong-un and members of his regime have committed ten of the eleven crimes against humanity enumerated in the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The event will be held at the National Press Club from 9:30-10:45am on Tuesday, December 12.
Under the auspices of the War Crimes Committee, three internationally renowned judges - Navanethem 'Navi' Pillay (Chair), Thomas Buergenthal and Mark Harmon - led the Inquiry and authored the Report. Judge Navi Pillay will deliver keynote remarks at the December 12 event. Among other things, Judge Pillay has served as a judge on the International Criminal Court, as President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008-2014. Greg Kehoe of the IBA's War Crimes Committee also will deliver remarks. Among other things, Mr. Kehoe, a former federal prosecutor, led the team of lawyers and investigators that advised the Iraqi Special Tribunal, an ad hoc court formed to prosecute Saddam Hussein and other regime officials.
The Report contains nine (9) Calls for Action, including a call for the UN to provide the International Criminal Court or a special international tribunal with jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute those responsible for committing crimes against humanity in North Korea's political prisons, known as kwanliso . The Report also calls on North Korea to dismantle its gulag system and release an estimated 80,000-130,000 political prisoners. (Note: this figure includes scores of children, spouses, parents, etc., who have been imprisoned pursuant to North Korea's longstanding policy of eliminating the "seed" of three generations of "class enemies.") Further, it calls for targeted sanctions against persons responsible for past or ongoing crimes against humanity in North Korea's political prisons, as well as a ban on the importation of products made with materials or labor from North Korea's penal system.
Relying on satellite imagery and the testimony of numerous defectors - including North Korea's highest ranking defector in recent years, Thae Yong-ho - the Report debunks North Korea's ongoing denial of the very existence of its political prisons, which Amnesty International describes as "very possibly home to some of the most appalling torture in the world." Evidence of crimes presented to the Inquiry included:
Finally, Hogan Lovells, an international law firm that previously has worked to raise awareness of human rights abuses in North Korea, provided very significant pro bono assistance to the Inquiry.
Thank you for giving this your consideration. We hope to see you at the National Press Club on December 12th.
RSVP to this event by e-mailing: [email protected]
This report provides an abbreviated update to our previous reports on a long-term political prison commonly identified by former prisoners and researchers as Kwan-li-so No. 25 by providing details of activity observed during 2021–2023. This report was originally published on Tearline at https://www.tearline.mil/public_page/prison-camp-25.
This report explains how the Kim regime organizes and implements its policy of human rights denial using the Propaganda and Agitation Department (PAD) to preserve and strengthen its monolithic system of control. The report also provides detailed background on the history of the PAD, as well as a human terrain map that details present and past PAD leadership.
HRNK's latest satellite imagery report analyzes a 5.2 km-long switchback road, visible in commercial satellite imagery, that runs from Testing Tunnel No. 1 at North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test facility to the perimeter of Kwan-li-so (political prison camp) no. 16.
This report proposes a long-term, multilateral legal strategy, using existing United Nations resolutions and conventions, and U.S. statutes that are either codified or proposed in appended model legislation, to find, freeze, forfeit, and deposit the proceeds of the North Korean government's kleptocracy into international escrow. These funds would be available for limited, case-by-case disbursements to provide food and medical care for poor North Koreans, and--contingent upon Pyongyang's progress
For thirty years, U.S. North Korea policy have sacrificed human rights for the sake of addressing nuclear weapons. Both the North Korean nuclear and missile programs have thrived. Sidelining human rights to appease the North Korean regime is not the answer, but a fundamental flaw in U.S. policy. (Published by the National Institute for Public Policy)
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George Hutchinson's The Suryong, the Soldier, and Information in the KPA is the second of three building blocks of a multi-year HRNK project to examine North Korea's information environment. Hutchinson's thoroughly researched and sourced report addresses the circulation of information within the Korean People's Army (KPA). Understanding how KPA soldiers receive their information is needed to prepare information campaigns while taking into account all possible contingenc
This report is part of a comprehensive long-term project undertaken by HRNK to use satellite imagery and former prisoner interviews to shed light on human suffering in North Korea by monitoring activity at political prison facilities throughout the nation. This is the second HRNK satellite imagery report detailing activity observed during 2015 to 2021 at a prison facility commonly identified by former prisoners and researchers as “Kwan-li-so No. 14 Kaech’ŏn” (39.646810, 126.117058) and
This report is part of a comprehensive long-term project undertaken by HRNK to use satellite imagery and former prisoner interviews to shed light on human suffering in North Korea by monitoring activity at civil and political prison facilities throughout the nation. This study details activity observed during 1968–1977 and 2002–2021 at a prison facility commonly identified by former prisoners and researchers as "Kyo-hwa-so No. 3, T'osŏng-ni" and endeavors to e
This report is part of a comprehensive long-term project undertaken by HRNK to use satellite imagery and former detainee interviews to shed light on human suffering in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, more commonly known as North Korea) by monitoring activity at political prison facilities throughout the nation. This report provides an abbreviated update to our previous reports on a long-term political prison commonly identified by former prisoners and researchers as Kwan-li-so
Through satellite imagery analysis and witness testimony, HRNK has identified a previously unknown potential kyo-hwa-so long-term prison-labor facility at Sŏnhwa-dong (선화동) P’ihyŏn-gun, P’yŏngan-bukto, North Korea. While this facility appears to be operational and well maintained, further imagery analysis and witness testimony collection will be necessary in order to irrefutably confirm that Sŏnhwa-dong is a kyo-hwa-so.
"North Korea’s Long-term Prison-Labor Facility Kyo-hwa-so No. 8, Sŭngho-ri (승호리) - Update" is the latest report under a long-term project employing satellite imagery analysis and former political prisoner testimony to shed light on human suffering in North Korea's prison camps.
Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of Korea: The Role of the United Nations" is HRNK's 50th report in our 20-year history. This is even more meaningful as David Hawk's "Hidden Gulag" (2003) was the first report published by HRNK. In his latest report, Hawk details efforts by many UN member states and by the UN’s committees, projects and procedures to promote and protect human rights in the DPRK. The report highlights North Korea’s shifts in its approach
South Africa’s Apartheid and North Korea’s Songbun: Parallels in Crimes against Humanity by Robert Collins underlines similarities between two systematically, deliberately, and thoroughly discriminatory repressive systems. This project began with expert testimony Collins submitted as part of a joint investigation and documentation project scrutinizing human rights violations committed at North Korea’s short-term detention facilities, conducted by the Committee for Human Rights