Kim Jong-un’s regime exploits hundreds of orphaned miners in mines, factories and farms

North Korea’s state-run news agency (KCNA) reported that 700 orphan minors have volunteered and are working in mines, factories and collective farms. State media showcase the “wisdom and courage” of those boys and girls who “in their youth” chose to work voluntarily. Thus, the dictatorship channel reported that “dozens of orphan children have already arrived at the Chonnae mining complex to fulfill their oath and even return a millionth of the love the Party has shown them.”

But the North Korean regime’s message hides one truth: child exploitation and slavery. Various human rights groups have accused North Korea of ​​using forced child labor and warn that many of these slaves are believed to be children of South Korean prisoners of the Korean War.

Pyongyang never released tens of thousands of South Korean prisoners after the Korean War (1950-1953). These people were sent to coal mines and forced to work under conditions similar to slavery, and their children and grandchildren inherited this brutal fate, details the report of the Citizens’ Alliance for the Rights of man in North Korea (NKHR).

At the root of these brutal mechanisms of segregation is the system known as “songbun”, which classifies the North Korean people according to their social and political origins.

Absolute loyalty to the North Korean authorities is a crucial factor in this system, and those whose ancestors collaborated with the Japanese enemy or were capitalists are the last. “This songbun system has been passed down to their children and grandchildren, who continue to work in the coal, lead, zinc, magnesite and other mines,” said a Seoul-based NGO report. This prevents them from “changing address, job or pursuing higher education,” he adds.

The US State Department has denounced practices such as the existence of “militarized youth brigades” of minors who “participate in special projects such as snow clearing roads or achieving production targets.” He also warned of “physical and psychological damage, malnutrition, exhaustion and growth problems due to forced labor.”

North Korea has consistently denied these accusations and recently denounced US President Joe Biden for his “hostile policies” towards Pyongyang.

However, months ago, United Nations investigation concludes crimes against humanity continue to be committed in North Korea, in a context marked by impunity and in which the international community should intervene to guarantee accountability, through the International Criminal Court (ICC) or an “ad hoc” mechanism.

The UN Commission of Inquiry already detected in 2014 that crimes against humanity were committed in North Korea and, seven years later, it came to the same conclusion. Thus, he considered that there is sufficient evidence to prove the situations of extermination, murder, slavery, imprisonment, sexual abuse, political persecution and enforced disappearance.

Testimonies from people who have escaped from the Asian country reveal systematic abuses within the North Korean prison system, where authorities inflict both physical and psychological harm on inmates on a recurring basis, ranging from beatings to prolonged use of painful positions including lack of food. , forced labor or lack of medical care.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet regretted that seven years after the first “historic” report, “not only does impunity reign, but human rights violations that could constitute crimes against humanity continue to be committed. “

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