At the 23rd session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, the Republic of Korea, Global Rights Compliance (GRC), and the Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG), with the generous support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), hosted a pivotal side event. The panel centred on innovative pathways for accountability for international crimes committed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) through the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The event, which was moderated by Elizabeth Atkinson, Legal Advisor at GRC, opened with an address from Lee Chul-eun, a North Korean defector and activist who shared harrowing accounts of the grave crimes taking place in North Korea. Lee Chul-eun escaped to South Korea in 2016 after working directly inside the Ministry of State Security’s (MSS) system. He offered a rare insider’s account of the inner workings of North Korea’s security apparatus and explained how the regime systematically commits large-scale human rights violations against its citizens.
“North Korea’s MSS agents infiltrate the people themselves to monitor their thought trends. Their identities are revealed to instill fear in society, so it is important to recruit informants who can infiltrate the populace. As each MSS agent has over 30 informants, at least 2.5 million informants are surveilling the population. The ideological vetting usually takes one year or as long as three years. The person chosen to be an informant is called to the office alone at night and given the proposition to work for the Party, the Fatherland and the people, in the search for ‘impure elements’. No one says no.”
“If a case is determined to be a political offense during the preliminary examination at the provincial MSS’s detention center, the examinee is sent to kwanliso (political prison camp). Being sent to kwanliso does not kill them, but subjects them to forced labor for the rest of their lives to ‘watch Socialist Korea led by Kim Jong Un”. It means that they will die in pain at the kwanliso.”
Ethan Hee-Seok Shin, Legal Analyst at TJWG shared a reflection on the findings of the 2014 United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the DPRK (COI DPRK), which documented crimes against humanity committed in and by the DPRK. Despite endorsements of these findings by the UN Human Rights Council and General Assembly, progress has stalled due to vetoes by Russia and China at the UN Security Council.
“The Commission of Inquiry on DPRK has identified six categories of crimes against humanity perpetrated by the regime. These include atrocities in political prison camps (kwanliso) and regular prisons (kyohwaso); systematic persecution of religious believers and those deemed to introduce ‘subversive influences’; brutal treatment of North Korean escapees; deliberate starvation as a weapon against the population; and crimes targeting foreigners, including abductees and prisoners of war.”
– said Ethan Hee-Seok Shin, Legal Analyst, Transitional Justice Working Group.
However, recent developments have reinvigorated discussions on alternative pathways. The ICC’s jurisdiction through state referrals, particularly for crimes committed by North Korea on the territories of States Parties to the Rome Statute, offers a glimmer of hope. Additionally, cases before the ICJ, including those alleging violations of the Genocide and Torture Conventions, highlight the potential for legal proceedings against the DPRK.
Discussions also touched on novel legal strategies, including the potential use of the CEDAW Convention at the ICJ, as explored by GRC. Furthermore, the potential involvement of North Korean troops in Ukraine as part of Russia’s military campaign in the occupied territories, could also lead to some interesting opportunities for DPRK accountability.
GRC’s Vice-President and Head of the Starvation and Humanitarian Crisis Division, Catriona Murdoch emphasised that on the path to justice, it is crucial to unite the efforts of international institutions at all levels.
“We need to work collectively and creatively to bring ICL to its full potential, as well as using events such as these, as a rallying call to both greater awareness and action for the victims of the DPRK regime and shine more light on a global blind spot. We can pursue accountability for DPRK, there are pathways available, but as with so many of the situations being raised this week, the challenge is not simply jurisdiction, but political will” said Catriona Murdoch.
This side event underscored the critical importance of collaboration and innovation in seeking justice for victims and addressing the enduring impunity of the DPRK regime.