North Korea

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) remains one of the most repressive countries in the world. A 2014 United Nations Commission of Inquiry report found that the government committed systematic, widespread, and gross human rights violations that constitute crimes against humanity. Ruled by third-generation totalitarian leader Kim Jong Un, the government maintains fearful obedience by using arbitrary detention and imprisonment, torture, executions, enforced disappearances, and forced labor. It systematically denies basic liberties, including freedom of expression, association, assembly, and religion. It bans independent media, civil society organizations, and trade unions. Since 2020, under the pretext of protecting against the spread of Covid-19, the North Korean government has imposed extreme and unnecessary measures to close its borders and tightly restrict domestic travel, with strict controls on the distribution of food and other products within the country.

 

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map of North Korea

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Even before the covid-19 pandemic North

 

Korea was one of the most isolated

 

countries in the world but more recently

 

its totalitarian leader Kim Jung has

 

almost entirely cut off the country from

 

the rest of the world since 2020 the

 

government has used the pandemic as an

 

excuse to tightly seal its northern

 

border and essentially lock down the

 

country at the border with China

 

authorities have vastly increased and

 

expanded fencing and guard posts added

 

security personnel and ramped up

 

enforcement and strict punishments

 

including shoot on site orders and

 

threats of public executions the

 

Crackdown combined with negative

 

consequences of tight trade sanctions by

 

the UN Security Council has effectively

 

closed off the country and sharply

 

limited the import of food and essential

 

Goods it's now harder than ever for

 

North Koreans to communicate with the

 

outside world conduct trade make a

 

living and access food and other

 

necessities it's also nearly impossible

 

to escape the country often described as

 

a giant prison the UN security Council

 

should re-engage on North Korea and

 

press the government to relax its over

 

Brad restrictions and commit to

 

addressing human rights

 

violations

 

 

 

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