Attachments
INTRODUCTION
There have been calls in the past to highlight the linkage between the North Korean nuclear and human rights issues. In January 2013, Navi Pillay, then UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed her concern that “at the international level, the spotlight is almost exclusively focused on DPRK’s nuclear programme and rocket launches” and added that “while these, of course, are issues of enormous importance, they should not be allowed to overshadow the deplorable human rights situation in DPRK, which in one way or another affects almost the entire population and has no parallel anywhere else in the world” as she called for a full-fledged international inquiry into serious crimes that had been taking place in North Korea.
The 2014 Report of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea stated that: “The State has consistently failed in its obligation to use the maximum of its available resources to feed those who are hungry. Military spending – predominantly on hardware and the development of weapons systems and the nuclear programme – has always been prioritized, even during periods of mass starvation.”
Since then, resolutions and statements by other countries or international organizations on the human rights situation in North Korea also point out the deterioration of the human rights situation as a result of the North Korean government investing scarce resources in nuclear and weapons development. Accordingly, there is a growing international awareness that resolving the nuclear issue is inextricably linked to human rights issues.
North Korea’s rulers have sought to maximize international interest in its nuclear capabilities while avoiding attention on its human rights issues. There is in fact a tendency to view the North Korean nuclear issue solely from a security perspective. Governments and research institutes around the world have been focusing on monitoring and analyzing the type, scale, evidence and signs of resumption of nuclear tests. By contrast, there has been little interest in human rights violations such as forcible transfer of population, forced labor for nuclear tests and threats to human security caused by soil or water resource contamination. A few media outlets reported stories of North Korean escapees who had lived near the nuclear test site, but interest did not last.
Six nuclear tests have made Punggye-ri and Mt. Mantap internationally famous, but there has been a dearth of studies on how many people live near the site of repeated tests of increasing magnitude, what they eat and drink and how their health is affected. Nevertheless, mapping the possible range of leakage and dissemination of radioactive materials through groundwater points to a large area and population at risk.
The populations in neighboring countries such as South Korea, China and Japan are also exposed to the radioactive risk from the contaminated agricultural and marine products imported from North Korea. It is the responsibility of the respective governments to find out and inform the public about where North Korea’s nationally advertised specialties like “Mt. Chilbo pine mushrooms” are grown and how they are consumed across borders.
South Korea is the country best suited to conduct a meaningful epidemiological investigation provided it has the political will, since there are nearly 900 North Korean escapees who had lived in the areas near the Punggye-ri nuclear test site after the first nuclear test in 2006. But South Korea’s Ministry of Unification reluctantly conducted radiation exposure tests for only 30 escapees in 2017 and 10 escapees in 2018 and covered up the test results showing worrying levels of chromosomal abnormalities among 9 of them (22.5 percent); the tests ceased from 2019. The South Korean government under President Moon Jae-in (2017-2022) avoided publicizing issues expected to rattle North Korea.
Since 2019, TJWG has been gauging the interests of diplomats and journalists at home and abroad. The diplomats expressed interest and pointed out that, despite the need to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue along with the North Korean human rights issue, it has been difficult to find concrete links thus far. The journalists stated that there are limits to reporting based on rumors or interviews with a few North Korean escapees.
TJWG continued to collect information and data while waiting for an opportune moment. From March 2022, the news of impending resumption of nuclear tests brought about a renewed interest.3 With the end of Seoul’s appeasement of North Korea following the inauguration of the Yoon Seokyeol government in May 2022, an environment conducive to the disclosure of relevant information emerged. Therefore, TJWG decided to gather and organize information to publish a visual report explaining the issue in a coherent manner.
The purpose of this report is fivefold. First, it sets out to clarify the indivisibility of the North Korean nuclear issue and the North Korean human rights issue. Second, it aims to inform the North Korean people about the risk of harm caused by repeated nuclear tests through various means and channels. Third, there is a need to raise awareness about the health risks posed to the people living in South Korea, China and Japan, due to the smuggling and distribution of agricultural and marine products from North Korea. Fourth, the report aims to persuade the South Korean government to expand the radiation exposure tests for the North Korean escapees who had lived in the areas near the Punggye-ri nuclear test site and to disclose the test results. Fifth, TJWG urges the interested states and international organizations to discuss what to explore and how to proceed with additional investigations based on the contents of this report.