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North Korea escapees say executions continue, including for viewing banned videos
OTTAWA - North Koreans who have escaped from Kim Jong Un’s regime say public executions for offences, including watching South Korean videos, are still taking place, some in front of crowds of spectators forced to watch. www.thestar.com
North Korea conducts public executions for theft, watching South Korea media: report
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea carries out public executions on river banks and at school grounds and marketplaces for charges such as stealing copper from factory machines, distributing media from South Korea and prostitution, a report issued on Wednesday said. www.reuters.com
Hundreds of North Korean execution sites identified, says rights group
South-Korea-based group says it has found more than 300 such sites after interviewing more than 600 defectors www.theguardian.com
North Korea Executes People for Watching K-Pop, Rights Group Says
At least seven people have been put to death in the past decade for watching or distributing K-pop videos, as the North cracks down on what its leader calls a “vicious cancer." www.nytimes.com
Eyewitnesses help document public executions in North Korea for a day of reckoning
As a boy of about 9 or 10, Kang Chun Hyok waded between grown-ups’ legs and made his way to the front of a crowd of hundreds assembled near a brick factory in his hometown, not far from North Korea’s border with China. www.latimes.com
Half of North Korean defectors suffered violence, but rights is not a top summit issue
About half of 451 North Korean defectors questioned in a survey endured physical violence at the hands of North Korean authorities, a rights group has said as leader Kim Jong Un prepared to meet U.S. President Donald Trump for a summit.www.japantimes.co.jp
Half of North Korean defectors suffered violence, but rights is not a top summit issue
About half of 451 North Korean defectors questioned in a survey endured physical violence at the hands of North Korean authorities, a rights group has said as leader Kim Jong Un prepared to meet U.S. President Donald Trump for a summit.www.taipeitimes.com
Half of North Korea defectors suffered violence, but rights not a top summit issue
About half of 451 North Korean defectors questioned in a survey endured physical violence at the hands of North Korean authorities, a rights group has said as leader Kim Jong Un prepared to meet U.S. President Donald Trump for a summit.www.straitstimes.com
Half of N.Korea defectors suffered violence, but rights not a top summit issue
About half of 451 North Korean defectors questioned in a survey endured physical violence at the hands of North Korean authorities, a rights group said on Tuesday, as leader Kim Jong Un prepared to meet U.S. President Donald Trump for a summit.www.reuters.com
Justice Goes Unserved for North Korea's Victims of Human Rights Abuses
Ms Shin* didn’t know she was a victim of human rights abuses in North Korea until years after coming to South Korea. Attacked one day by a drunk police officer, she was wounded so badly she was kept in a cell for weeks until her injuries were less likely to draw suspicion from her neighbours. Years later, she continues to suffer from the physical and emotional after-effects of the attack.At the time, she knew that what was happening to her was unjust. She says, however, that she felt “powerless to do anything about it”. It was only after escaping the North and settling into South Korea that she realised that she was in fact entitled to certain human rights.www.asiancorrespondent.com
A Very Distant Hope for North Koreans
Ms Shin* didn’t know she was a victim of human rights abuses in North Korea until years after coming to South Korea. Attacked one day by a drunk police officer, she was wounded so badly she was kept in a cell for weeks until her injuries were less likely to draw suspicion from her neighbours. Years later, she continues to suffer from the physical and emotional after-effects of the attack.At the time, she knew that what was happening to her was unjust. She says, however, that she felt “powerless to do anything about it”. It was only after escaping the North and settling into South Korea that she realised that she was in fact entitled to certain human rights.www.policyforum.net
Will Trump Raise The Issue Of Mass Atrocities With The New Ally?
After the meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong Un, many hoped that at least some of the human rights abuses in North Korea will be addressed. While the meeting was certainly a historic event, it is unclear whether it will lead to any historic changes, especially in relation to the crimes against humanity perpetrated in North Korea.www.forbes.com
Knowing Where the Bodies Are Buried
The 2014 publication of the UN Commission of Inquiry report concluded that crimes against humanity were being perpetrated in North Korea and contributed to the establishment of the South Korean government’s Center for North Korean Human Rights Records and the UN Human Rights Office in Seoul. The latest manifestation of the COI’s influence is the publication of the report “Mapping Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea” by the Seoul-based Transitional Justice Working Group.www.piie.com
N. Korean defectors show locations of mass graves using Google Earth
Much of what happens in North Korea remains hidden from the outside world. But commercial satellite imagery and Google Earth mapping software are helping a human-rights organization take inventory of the worst offenses of the North Korean regime and identify sites for future investigation of crimes against humanity.www.arstechnica.com
South Korea-based NGO mapping North Korean abuses from above: report
Transitional Justice Working Group aiming to identify mass burial and execution siteswww.nknews.org
North Korea conducts public executions for theft, watching South Korea media: report
North Korea carries out public executions on river banks and at school grounds and marketplaces for charges such as stealing copper from factory machines, distributing media from South Korea and prostitution, a report issued on Wednesday said.www.reuters.com
Report details public executions for petty theft in North Korea
North Korea carries out public executions on river banks and at school grounds and marketplaces for charges such as stealing copper from factory machines, distributing media from South Korea and prostitution, according to a new report. Grace Lee reports.www.reuters.com
Mapping the Brutality of North Korea, and Where the Bodies Are Buried
For two years, from a cramped office in central Seoul, activists and volunteers from five countries have been doing something never tried before: creating interactive maps of places where North Korea is thought to have executed and buried prisoners.www.nytimes.com
Where are the bodies buried in North Korea? Investigators try to prepare for future trials
Efforts to hold the Kim regime accountable for decades of brutality against the North Korean people have so far amounted to little, but that isn’t stopping human rights activists from trying to document the abuses.www.washingtonpost.com
NGOs Stress Need for Government Action on Anniversary of Human Rights Act
South Korea’s Ministry of Unification hosted a forum recently to mark the first anniversary of the passing of the North Korean Human Rights Act. Participants from various human rights NGOs in Seoul spoke on the importance of full implementation of the act.www.dailynk.com