First Investigation into 'North Korea Forced Labor'... "Will Inform the Reality as Much as Possible"

Ministry of Unification Orders Research Service... "We Will Inform About Rights Status"
In-depth Interviews with 50 North Korean Defectors Entered in the Last 5 Years
"Government Should Publish Report Based on Accumulated Data"

The government is conducting its first investigation into the "actual conditions of forced labor" occurring in North Korea. Although the research was initially set to be confidential, leading to criticism that it was a "black box," the Ministry of Unification has established a policy to disclose the investigation results as much as possible in order to widely inform the public about the human rights situation in North Korea.

According to the Ministry of Unification on the 20th, the Ministry's North Korean Human Rights Records Center issued a public bid on the 14th for a "In-depth Investigation and Research on the Actual Conditions of Forced Labor in North Korea." Although a research project on labor rights was commissioned last year, this is the first time an in-depth investigation has been conducted on the specific issue of "forced labor." The investigation period is five months, and results are expected as early as the end of the year.

North Korean women are working at a construction site along the Yalu River.
[Image source=AFP]

The research will first conduct in-depth interviews with defectors who have entered South Korea within the last five years. The purpose is to understand the various realities of forced labor occurring in detention facilities, schools, and various social organizations within North Korea. The study plans to examine how the patterns of forced labor have changed since the Kim Jong-un regime and to investigate the related laws and systems under which North Korean authorities mobilize residents for forced labor.

Forced labor in North Korea is referred to as a "modern-day slavery." This is because people are mobilized for unpaid labor according to the will of the party leadership regardless of age or gender. For example, on the 7th of this month, North Korea publicized that the Korean Children's Union, composed of students aged 7 to 14, prepared multiple rocket launchers as gifts for the People's Army. This was said to be funded through the so-called "Good Deeds Campaign," which is a euphemism for forced labor involving children collecting scrap materials and the like.

However, this research project was set as "confidential," leading to repeated criticism that it was an unnecessary measure. This contradicts the current government's policy direction to widely publicize the human rights situation in North Korea, and the North Korean Human Rights Records Center has been at the center of controversy throughout the previous administration due to the confidentiality of the "North Korean Human Rights Report." The Yoon Suk-yeol administration disclosed the previously unreleased North Korean Human Rights Report for the first time this year.

An official from the Ministry of Unification stated, "The reason the investigation results were set not to be disclosed was because the project was commissioned with internal reference in mind, such as for question development," adding, "We are fully considering opinions on the necessity of disclosure, and after filtering out personal information and other matters that must remain confidential, we plan to disclose the research results as much as possible so that the public can understand the realities of rights violations in North Korea."

"The government should publish 'detailed reports' based on accumulated data"

North Korea Human Rights Report
[Image source=Yonhap News]

There is also an opinion that detailed reports on North Korean human rights should be published at the government level rather than by the private sector. It is pointed out that the data accumulated by the Ministry of Unification over the seven years since the enactment of the North Korean Human Rights Act should be utilized for report publication and other purposes. Earlier, Choi Yong-seok, head of the Ministry of Unification's North Korean Human Rights Records Center, acknowledged the limitations of the North Korean Human Rights Report at a forum in April and stated, "We are considering publishing separate reports on specific rights areas apart from the comprehensive report." This is interpreted as an intention to publish reports dealing with detailed topics such as forced labor.

Lee Young-hwan, former head of the Transitional Justice Working Group, criticized, "Looking at this project, it requires conducting in-depth interviews with 50 defectors who entered within the last five years in just five months," adding, "Even though the North Korean Human Rights Records Center was established as an individual investigation and recording organization, continuously outsourcing such projects to the private sector seems like building achievements for the National Assembly audit." He continued, "This year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Human Rights in North Korea," and suggested, "Now, based on the data accumulated by the government, there is a need to present detailed reports on North Korean human rights to the international community."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.