Can North Korea ever become a democracy?
North Korea is arguably the most closed and repressive society in the world. But over the past 25 years, the failures of North Korea’s totalitarian system have created the possibility… Read more »
Category: North Korea
UN investigator says North Korea, China cracking down on escapes
The United Nations’ independent investigator on human rights in North Korea said Friday there are signs the country and China are strengthening their efforts to track down people who have escaped… Read more »
Mapping the Fate of the Dead: rights group identifies North Korean execution sites
A human rights group said Tuesday it has identified hundreds of spots where witnesses claim North Korea carried out public executions and extrajudicial state killings as part of an arbitrary… Read more »
‘Father of North Korean human rights movement’ will be recognized by history
North Koreans remain trapped in a “vicious cycle of deprivation, corruption, repression” and endemic bribery, according to a report from the UN human rights office. The analysis titled “The Price… Read more »
Human rights are key to a North Korea deal
Five years ago this month, the UN Human Rights Council published the Report of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. This report and the… Read more »
North Korea slams UN rapporteur over human rights
The U.S. Congress is allocating funds for the advancement of human rights in North Korea. The regime’s party organ Rodong Sinmun on Monday criticized the U.N.’s Special Rapporteur of human rights Tomas… Read more »
North Korean defector has crucial information on how regime operates
A North Korean diplomat in Rome has gone into hiding along with his wife, South Korean lawmakers said, citing Seoul’s intelligence agency, a development that presents embarrassment for Pyongyang… Read more »
Navigating North Korea’s power structure
In North Korea, all authority flows from Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. He has reinstated the party as the central hub to consolidate his power and bring elites to heel, analyst… Read more »
North Korea’s Gulag cannot be ignored
As nuclear disarmament talks continue, the U.S. side should not lose sight of the Kim regime’s gruesome crimes against its own people, says Freedom House’s Arch Puddington. Civil society activists… Read more »
‘McDonald’s theory’ for North Korea can’t work without human rights
A plan to transform North Korea into a modern economy — which one might call the “McDonald’s theory” — has a huge hole in it: It can happen only if… Read more »