SINCE February 2014 the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has been subjected to an unprecedented barrage of hostile propaganda over the human rights issue. The set piece of this campaign was the publication by the so-called UN Commission of Inquiry' of a so-called report into human rights in the DPRK. This was used to whip a tide of anti-DPRK, anti -socialist propaganda. It is not only a means of malignantly slandering the socialist system of the DPRK and the Juche idea but a means of psychologically preparing people for military intervention in the DPRK and war against the DPRK .The UN Commission of Inquiry report even went as far to call for the arrest of the DPRK supreme leadership. Of course such a demand is not only a grave infringement of the sovereignty of the DPRK but is also a pipe dream that will never be realised. It could also provoke a war.
UN REPORT BASED ON LIES
So what is really behind the human rights propaganda against the DPRK, what are the facts concerning the allegations? Who are the real human rights violators?
The so-called report is a disgusting example of extreme bias and one sidedness by the UN which shows that the UN is not impartial or fair but simply represents the interests of some Western countries chiefly the US. The UN is a marionette of US imperialism, a sort of executive agency of the - US controlled New World Order .We can remember years ago an old African comrade saying that the UN was simply the colonial office of US imperialism. The so-called report was itself contrary to the basic principles of the UN charter which rules out intervention in the internal affairs of members states. ''The Commission of Inquiry did not even allow the DPRK to put its case. Nor did it visit the DPRK. It evidence came from so- called defectors.
The chairman of the Commission of Inquiry was an Australian judge one Michael Kirby. Australia is a very pro-active member of the US-south Korea-Japan -Australia axis. These days the US is trying to create a NATO style structure in the Asia- Pacific region and Australia is a very much a key player in this.
Let's take a brief look at the background of Judge Michael Kirby himself. In 2002 an Australian senator demanded that Kirby stand down as a judge alleging that Kirby was a paedophile who used taxpayers' money for cars to pick up rent boys. Whilst the allegations of paedophilia were un-proven as such there was a statement from a male prostitute alleging that Kirby had had an encounter with him. Is an individual with such an unsavoury past fit to sit in judgement on the dignified DPRK? (Kirby is also accused by some of giving lenient sentences to paedophiles).
Lurking behind the report is the dishonest and political purpose of the U.S. and its followers seeking to undermine the ideology and socialist system of the DPRK.
Now, the forces hostile toward the DPRK regard the "human rights issue" as a main lever for stifling it since they had no way out over the "nuclear issue". The aim is to create a Cold War style campaign of hysteria against the DPRK. The purpose is clearly to bring down the socialist system of the DPRK and effect regime change by one means or another. The campaign is very reminiscent of the demonization of Yugoslavia and Iraq before they were attacked and bombed and also the propaganda war against the Soviet Union in the late 1940s and 1950s; though in my opinion it goes far beyond that. By such intense psychological warfare against the DPRK it makes organising effective solidarity with the DPRK challenging as those who defend the DPRK are also demonised by the campaign.
So what was the evidence used for the allegations against the DPRK ? None of it was obtained from actually visiting the DPRK, all of it is second -hand and basically what is known as anecdotal evidence as such it is no real validity in a court of law. Even if you believe the inflated figures of the number of defectors from the DPRK given by south Korea, they are a very small minority of the DPRK population, less than 1 per cent, so what about the views of the 99.9 per cent of the DPRK's population why are they excluded, why is their voice not heard, why base the report on the views of an unrepresentative minority?. The idea of trying to compute anecdotal evidence into data and then compute and analyse it has come a cropper before; two famous US historians Fogel and Engermann produced a so-called econometric history of US Negro slavery. Fogel and Engermann analysed a slave owner's diary about the number of times he beat a slave and then fed the results into a computer. The result was a book called Time On the Cross which praised US slavery as a benevolent system. Not surprisingly the book got denounced as a racist. It serves a good illustration of the pitfalls of trying to turn anecdotal evidence into solid research. However the Commission of Inquiry report and other so-called reports on human rights in the DPRK which cite defectors as their main evidence goes far beyond being misguided ineptitude. The material it uses are deliberately one-sided. Who are these defectors who gave evidence to the commission?
Some of these people are not really from the DPRK but are actually south Koreans (have been heard speaking with south Korean accents) and others are those who committed very serious crimes such as murder, rape, theft and corruption. UK KFA has consistently exposed the character we call Scumbag Shin (see appendix). This person who is allegedly a former DPRK citizen had his picture taken with war-criminal George W Bush and now works for the Bush Institute. What can one say about such a person?
All the defectors are people who are under the control of the south Korean "National Intelligence Service and live on funds provided by the south Korean regime and the US. Is evidence from a witness who is bribed first, reliable evidence?
No basically. In actual fact no real tangible evidence is offered only assertions and stories, even drawings that look like they have been produced by the mentally ill or someone on drugs.
Time does not permit a full and detailed refutation of the allegations but some observations and comments can be made about them. The DPRK is one of the most harmonious and stable societies in the world where human rights violations are unheard of. In the DPRK the socialist system guarantees real human rights such as the right to work, the right to rest and leisure and the right to education. These are not guaranteed in capitalist countries. In elections in the DPRK nearly100 per cent of people vote, something unknown in the capitalist world. Under the Juche idea man is the master and his independence and creativity are enhanced by all means. The DPRK believes in ideological struggle rather than the use of administrative methods to tackle backward and reactionary ideologies .Socialism in the DPRK is built by the creativity of its people, by unleashing their potential. Jailing large numbers of people would simply run counter to this.
As the report issued by the DPRK Human Rights Association states:
The guiding ideology of the DPRK is the Juche idea.
In a nutshell, the Juche idea means that man is the master of everything and decides everything. In other words, it means that man is responsible for his own destiny and also has the capacity to shape his destiny.
The Juche idea is the most scientific and revolutionary guiding ideology as it guarantees, through adherence to the principles of independence, self-reliance and self-defence in the activities of the State, the status of the people as the masters of the revolution and construction in the political, material and military fields, realizes the independence of the people in all aspects of social life and advances the revolution and construction to victory.
All the achievements made by the Korean people in their efforts to build and strengthen the socialist system represent the triumph of the line and policies of the DPRK guided by the Juche idea and vivid manifestation of superiority and stability of the government of the DPRK.
The Juche idea is the ideology of believing in people as in heaven. Take full responsibility for and protect people's future and spare nothing for the promotion of their welfare. This is a political doctrine and principle of activities of the DPRK Government.
The Government of the DPRK, guided by the Juche idea, is carrying out its responsibility and mission as a representative of people's independent rights, organizer of their creative abilities and activities, householder responsible for their living conditions and protector of their independent and creative life.
The social system of the DPRK which has embodied the Juche idea is a people-centred social system in which people are the masters of everything and everything serves them.
Its political system is popular as it makes people masters of state governing, serves them and bestows upon them priceless political integrity.
Various figures for the numbers allegedly held in the camps are juggled about by the anti - DPRK lobby. Sometimes different figures are given at different times which implies that those who spread such rumours do not know what they are talking about. Some claim that there are 250,000 held in prison camps in the DPRK. This would mean that the camps would be truly huge, the size of small cities and would require a huge infrastructure to support them and huge number of guards. Scumbag Shin's Camp 14 in reality would have major road and rail links to the northern city and tourist resort of Hyangsan running right through the middle of it. Visiting the DPRK 9 times since 1992 I can say honestly that I have never seen a prison camp or a prison. Some might say ah but they are hidden away out of view. Well you cannot hide large numbers of prisoners. I have never seen anyone get arrested nor the authorities use force against people. Visiting Brazil just once I saw the police push a young man against a wall at gunpoint one night but I have never seen such a thing in the DPRK.
In fact the alleged number of people in 'prison camps' in the DPRK is still less than one tenth of the numbers of people held in US jails (the US has the largest prison population in the world) and the rate of alleged incarceration lower than the real US incarceration rate.
Penal detention is only used in the DPRK is a very final and last resort for serious and persistent offenders. Re-education is the preferred method. This is usually carried out in the community or workplace. The DPRK grants amnesties to prisoners on important anniversaries. This is something that would be unthinkable in a capitalist country.
So who are the real human rights abusers in the world?
1. The USA the No 1 violator of human rights
Firstly, the USA is the world's worst human rights abuser; it pretends to be a "model" in human rights performance. More ridiculous are Obama's remarks at the ceremony that as the president, he came to realize that it is hard to make progress in the American society and there are some discouraging points.
In fact, the remarks are little different from his admission of the serious human rights situation in the U.S.
Under the citizenship act, racism is getting more severe in the U.S. The gaps between the minorities and the whites are very wide in the exercise of such rights to work and elect. The U.S. true colours as a kingdom of racial discrimination have been fully revealed by a number of incidents. Firstly, the not guilty verdict given to George Zimmerman who shot dead Trayvon Martin in 2013. Zimmerman was a reserve policeman. Secondly, the events in the town of Ferguson, Missouri. On Aug. 9, 18-year-old African-American Michael Brown was shot dead by a white police officer in Ferguson, a St. Louis suburb in the U.S. state of Missouri, which prompted nationwide protests and questioning of the U.S. racial divide. In Ferguson, protests once escalated into days of rioting.
Only 10 days after the Ferguson shooting, another young black man was shot and killed by police officers in northern St. Louis. Demonstrations against these atrocities were harshly suppressed by police using automatic weapons and tear gas and pepper spray.
It is not surprising that 52 per cent of the Americans have said that racism still exists in the country while 46 per cent contended that all sorts of discrimination would be everlasting.
Back in the 1950s the Civil Rights Congress of the US charged that the US had committed genocide against the Afro-American peoples of the United States. It stated The oppressed Negro citizens of the United States, segregated, discriminated against, and long the target of violence, suffer from genocide as the result of the consistent, conscious, unified policies of every branch of government. If the General Assembly acts as the conscience of mankind and therefore acts favourably on our petition, it will have served the cause of peace."
The U.S. is a living hell as elementary rights to existence are ruthlessly violated.
At present, an average of 300,000 people a week are registered as unemployed, but no proper measure has not been taken to find them jobs.
The housing price soared 11.5 per cent last year than 2012 and 13.2 percent in January this year than 2013, leaving many people homeless.
The number of impoverished people increased to 46.5 million last year, and one sixth of the citizens and 20-odd percent of the children are in the grip of famine in New York City.
All sorts of crimes rampant in the U.S. pose a serious threat to the people's rights to existence and their inviolable rights.
The U.S. government has monitored every movement of its citizens and foreigners, with many cameras and tapping devices and even drones involved, under the pretext of "national security".
Meanwhile, bills on easing arms control were adopted in various states of the country, boosting murderous crimes. As a result, the U.S. has witnessed an increasing number of gun- related crimes in all parts of the country and even its military bases this year. In this regard, the United Nations on April 10 put the U.S. on the top of the world list of homicide rates.
The U.S. also has 2.2 million prisoners in 2013, the highest number in the world. In fact the US has 4 per cent of the world's population but 25 per cent of the prisoners in the world. Some US prisons have been privatised enabling capitalist concerns to profit from people being imprisoned. The US also uses prison labour extensively while hypocritically complaining about the DPRK using labour camps.
A Russian TV channel said that in the U.S. the wealthy classes are now keen on the investment in providing private prisons for their high profit and so more people will be imprisoned.
Such poor human right records in the U.S. are an inevitable product of the ruling quarters' policy against humanity.
Its chief executive, Obama, indulges himself in luxury almost every day, squandering hundred millions of dollars on his foreign trip in disregard of his people's wretched life.
It is also the president who called for respect to the verdict of not guilty given to a white policeman's racialism and backed the unlawful monitoring and tapping activities.
The U.S. is the world's worst human right abuser and tundra of a human being's rights to existence.
The human rights violations of the US are not confined to within the borders of the US. The US also committed crimes in south Korea.
The U.S. imperialist aggressors killed Koreans by the cruellest and most brutal methods baffling human imagination during the Korean War.
During the Korean War, they killed at least 1.23 million people in the northern half of Korea and more than 1.24 million in south Korea.
They committed sexual abuses against Korean women to satisfy their carnal desire and mercilessly killed them even in the vortex of the war.
They committed hair-raising atrocities against many innocent people, lording it over south Korea after the war.
There occurred ceaseless GI crimes last year alone. To cite just a few examples, GIs gang- raped a woman in her twenties on a subway electric car, GIs carried out a shooting spree against passers-by in the centre of Seoul, driving their car over a local policeman before taking to flight and a drunken GI drove his car at breakneck speed, causing a traffic accident, and beat the victim who chased him.
The U.S. imperialists perpetrated barbarous air raids during the Korean War, massacring Koreans and reducing the country to ashes.
The US air force made 800,000 sorties and those of their marines and navy over 250,000 sorties against the northern half of Korea in the entire period of the war. They dropped bombs and napalm bombs totalling almost 600,000 tons or 3.7 times those dropped over the Japan proper during the Pacific war.
Due to the U.S. barbarous air raids perpetrated during the Korean war 50,941 industrial establishments, 28,632 buildings of schools at all levels, 4,534 buildings of healthcare facilities including hospitals and clinics, 579 buildings of scientific research institutes, 8,163 buildings of media and cultural institutions and 2,077, 226 dwelling houses were severely destroyed, 563,755 hectares of farmland devastated and 155,500 hectares of paddy and non- paddy fields decreased.
Environment was also seriously polluted due to the U.S. imperialist aggressor forces' several decades-long presence in south Korea.
The U.S. has desperately obstructed the reunification of Korea, blocked the independent development of the Korean nation and stood in the way of achieving its peace and prosperity.
The human and material damage done to the Korean nation by the U.S. aggression and crimes against humanity amounts to at least 114 trillion U.S. dollars!
The U.S. has committed too many crimes against the Korean nation to count for more than a hundred years. There is no such country of barbarians in the world as the U.S!
The US imperialists were responsible for not only atrocities and wrongdoings in Korea but also many other parts of the world. The US imperialists brought war, chaos and fascism to many parts of the world.
US imperialism is chieftain of aggression and a kingpin of state-sponsored terrorism and a harasser of peace.
The U.S. has engineered at least 100 military coups worldwide to wipe out the movement for national liberation and stifle those countries aspiring after independence against imperialism for over 40 years since the end of the Second World War. The US imperialists sponsored fascist and oligarchic regimes in Chile, Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines and many other countries in the third world.
The U.S. true colours as a harasser of peace finds its vivid manifestation in the fact that it committed 114 wars and at least 8,900 cases of military intervention since early in the 20th century.... and perpetrated 185 military invasions against developing countries from the end of World War II until 1991.
The U.S. imperialists' brigandish and bellicose nature has become all the more undisguised in the new century. Their Iraqi war was hideous state-sponsored terrorism, a typical act of aggression and a crude violation of sovereignty and peace in the 21st century.
The U.S. is the only nuclear war criminal in the world as it developed and used nuclear weapons for the first time in human history and it poses constant nuclear threat and the danger of a nuclear war to the world. It has the biggest arsenal of nuclear weapons and used depleted uranium weapons against civilians.
The U.S. is the world's worst exploiter, plunderer and human rights abuser.
Multi-national companies were a main form of international monopoly that appeared after the end of the Second World War and they served the U.S. as a major means for exploitation and plunder. The multi-national companies belonging to the U.S. made their way to developing countries facing economic difficulties under the pretext of "aid" to rake up profits per dollar 4-5 times or even 10 times what it had invested.
In another development, the U.S. is dumping its surplus commodities into the developing countries while putting pressure upon them to open markets.
The criminal human rights abuses committed by the U.S. imperialists are clearly proved by their acts of killing or wounding civilians in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and the 1999 Balkan War and the recent disclosure of the U.S. occupation forces' inhuman torture and maltreatment of Iraqi prisoners. During the second Iraq War of 2003 the US imperialists are thought to have killed over a million people.
No amount of soft soap and spin can hide the true nature of US imperialism as a serial human rights abuser and bloodthirsty chieftain of state-sponsored terrorism,
2. Massive human rights in south Korea
South Korea is an artificial state, a puppet state created by US imperialism .It is a state based on fascist violence. In the 1940s the communist party was banned and harsh repression took place. Up to 100,000 people were killed. Uprisings in places like Jeju Island were suppressed at bayonet point by the south Korean puppets fully backed by US military advisors.
Park Chung Hee, the father of the present south Korean ruler Park Geun Hye, came to power in 1961 through a fascist military coup, over 100,000 were slaughtered and all political parties were banned. South Korea basically became a model for military fascist dictatorships in the neo-colonised third world. Successive fascist dictators repressed the people. In 1980 the citizens of Kwangju in the southern part of south Korea staged an uprising against martial law which was put down at bayonet point by the south Korean military who massacred 2,000 people. Thus south Korea is the most barbaric fascist state in the world.
In south Korea today the National Security Law (NSL) is in force, it totally criminalises all leftist, communist and pro reunification activities. The central article of the NSL states:
Any person who praises, incites or propagates the activities of an anti-government organization, a member thereof or of the person who has received an order from it, or who acts in concert with it, or propagates or instigates a rebellion against the State, with the knowledge of the fact that it may endanger the existence and security of the State or democratic fundamental order, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than seven years.
This law is based on the laws of the Japanese imperialists, such as the 'Public Order Law ' when they were the colonial occupiers of Korea. The present NSL of south Korea dates back to the 1940s. In recent years a number of prominent pro-reunification activists were arrested and jailed such as Lee Seok Ki, Ro Sui Hui (who was jailed for 7 years simply for visiting the DPRK) and the Rev Han Sang Ryol.
In the past the leaders of the Revolutionary Party for Reunification, Kim Jong Tae and Choi Yong Do as well the Strategic Liberation Party and People's Revolutionary Party were executed in south Korea. In 1969 Choi Yong Do and Kim Jong Tae of the RPR were executed. Also in 1969 Gwon Jae Hyuk leader of the Strategic Liberation Party was sentenced to death. In 1972 Kim Jil Rak, Ri Mun Gyu, Jong Tae Muk and Youn Sang Su of the RPR were also executed. In 1974 8 people were executed for (allegedly) forming a People's Revolutionary Party. South Korea has effectively drowned the communist and leftist movement in blood.
Today some long term unconverted prisoners remain in south Korea .It is believed that some of those jailed in the 1960s and 1970s are still in jail today. Others though released are subject to strict surveillance and control by the authorities.
The domination of the south Korean economy by foreign interests chiefly the US but also Japan and various Western countries has an adverse effect on human rights in south Korea.
The U.S.-led foreign monopoly capital accounts for 30 per cent of the south Korean stock market and big businesses and banks hold more than 50 per cent of stocks, swaying over the south Korean economy. They rake in profits running to billions of U.S. dollars from stock dividends only every year.
The U.S. monopoly capital stalks in south Korea, making businesses of south Korea go bankrupt and its people languish in unemployment and poverty.
Onrush of excessive agricultural products from the U.S. threatens the local farmers numbering more than 2.8 million.
The U.S. built military bases in different parts of south Korea and has staged madcap military exercises. This has deprived south Koreans of their cradle of life, devastating farmland, taking their lives and doing harm to human bodies and polluting environment.
Young and middle-aged south Koreans are taken off as cannon fodder of the U.S. in its wars of aggression.
There is no land in the world except for south Korea which is suffering such humiliation as offering funds as upkeep of the foreign occupation forces.
South Koreans have no place where they may complain even though they are deprived of everything by the U.S. and their rights violated by it.
Human rights are more crudely violated due to the puppet forces' medieval, tyrannical and unpopular rule.
Political freedom and democratic rights are mercilessly infringed upon, among other things.
The Unified Progressive Party which was had been a legal party with seats in the Assembly was forced to dissolve, after being labelled "forces following the north" and a lawmaker from an opposition party was walked away from the "NA" building in broad daylight, on the charge of his alleged involvement in an "attempted rebellion."
In the eight months of the present regime more than 23 790 articles were deleted from internet site for being "articles following the north", and hundreds of internet sites were forced to shut down.
People demanding the right to existence were harshly suppressed.
When workers in the field of railways staged a strike against the de-nationalization of railways at the end of last year, the fascist authorities hurled at least 5 000 police of over 60 companies to put it down the way they conducted an "anti-terrorist operation". They even stormed the building of the south Korean Confederation of Trade Unions without a confiscation and search warrant and arrested more than 130 people. This was an unprecedented act of fascist repression which would have been the equivalent of the British authorities raiding Congress House the HQ of the British TUC.
The puppet forces' anti-people rule has caused a decline in living standards of the people forcing them to undergo unspeakable sufferings and difficulties.
The number of the unemployed has reached over 4.5 million and that of underemployed who do part-time jobs for low wages for a day or a few months almost 10 million. People accounting for 11-19 percent suffer from chronic malnutrition.
The number of those who commit suicide is more than 40 a day, topping the world list. South Korea is known as the Republic of Suicide.
Over 1.1 million or 20 percent of the aged roam about in the streets, begging for food or rummaging dustbins, being forsaken by society and their children.
Children kill their parents in cold blood for money and all other kinds of crimes including murder, rape and robbery are prevalent in south Korea.
The south Korean puppet group's terrorism and abduction are another example of serious human rights abuses.
It is working with bloodshot eyes to conduct terrorism and abduction of citizens of the DPRK by mobilizing the Intelligence Service, the Foreign Ministry, Unification Ministry and all other plot-breeding organizations. This unprecedented man-hunting is being commanded by Chongwadae.
Agents of the puppet Intelligence Service and such anti-DPRK plot-breeding organizations including "Missionary Council of Duri Hana", "Good Friends" and "Association for Improving Human Rights in North" and terrorists and agents who go under the masks of religionists, businessmen and philanthropists, financed by the puppet authorities, go on the rampage in the north-eastern area of China, abducting and luring citizens of the DPRK.
Those citizens of the DPRK who had been abducted by the south Korean puppet forces and taken to south Korea are interrogated at the "central joint investigation centre" made up of those concerned of the puppet Intelligence Service, Unification Ministry, Defence Ministry and police for six months. They receive "anti-communist brain-washing education" for three to four months, being subject to all kinds of violence at a concentration camp called "Hana Centre".
Those who had been taken to south Korea are also subject to sub-human mal-treatment and humiliation.
Unable to eke out their living, they reside in places around mountaineering courses or rubbish dump picking up leftovers of food in day time and covering their bodies with leaves or rubbish at nights.
The south Korean puppet forces did not hesitate to commit hair-raising atrocities against distressed citizens of the DPRK who went adrift to south Korea.
Those whom the puppet forces did not send back to the north after kidnapping them when their boats were wrecked in the sea numbered more than 60 in the past five years.
South Korea has been a consistent abuser of human rights over 6 decades and continues to violate human rights today.
3. Human rights abuses in the West
It is also relevant to mention that there are violations of human rights in those countries that are part of the imperialist world or that are allied to it. Certain countries have joined the US and south Korea in the anti-DPRK campaign and are sponsoring the anti-DPRK human rights resolution in the UN.
The EU one of the main sponsors of the resolution However, as the people in EU countries are not adequately provided with the rights to work, food and housing, a huge number of unemployed are wandering the streets. In Germany alone, the unemployment amounts to 2.92 million in June 2014. In the EU member countries racism in endemic with many fascist and racist parties in existence, sometimes with representation in legislative bodies.
The UK which is also a sponsor of the anti- DPRK resolution, and an EU member state as well as an ally of the US, is also guilty of human rights violations. In the UK today there are many homeless people sleeping rough on the streets and poor people have to use so-called "Food banks ". The UK have imposed slave labour on the unemployed in the form of Workfare.
The UK authorities are guilty of extra judicial killings such as the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes by police in 2005 and the 2011 shooting of Mark Duggan by the police which caused the August 2011 riots. During the so-called Troubles in northern Ireland 1,840 people died. In January 1972 the British Army opened fire on unarmed civil rights demonstrators in Derry City killing 13 of them.
Japan which is another of the main sponsors of the resolution is another human rights violator. During the period of the Japanese empire the Japanese imperialists subjected over 200,000 Korean women to sexual slavery and have never apologised for this crime nor have paid reparations. Today in Japan ethnic Korean residents face extreme discrimination.
The US and other Western countries support Israel which is well known for its massacre and ill-treatment of the Palestinian people.
Many of the pro US countries in the third world have been ran by fascist regimes. Human rights violations are still common place in third capitalist countries for example in Brazil the army occupies parts of Rio de Janeirio and carries out killings of local residents.
Conclusion
Those behind the anti-DPRK human rights offensive, principally the US and south Korea as well as some western countries are actually the worst human rights violators who should be brought to book. It is the DPRK itself that the guarantor of real human rights. kawankorea]
Who are the Real Human Rights Abusers?
