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"The unwanted sexual contact and the violence that is so common in North Korea have come to be accepted as part of ordinary life," the report says.
Sexual violence in the country is "an open, unaddressed and widely tolerated secret," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "North Korean women would probably say" Me too "if they thought there was a way to get justice, but their voice was silenced in Kim Jong's dictatorship."
Of all sexual assault victims interviewed for the report, only one said she had attempted to report it. None of the others reported the assault they had suffered because "they did not trust the police and did not believe that the police would be willing to act," according to the report.
"On days when they wanted to, the market guards or the police could ask me to follow them to an empty room outside the market, or to another chosen location," the report said. 40-year-old tradeswoman who had fled the North. Korea in 2014 (HRW uses an alias). She says she has been sexually assaulted several times.
"They think of us as sex toys, we are at the mercy of men." She said the climate of sexual abuse was so ubiquitous that it had been normalized – both by the perpetrators and their victims, but nevertheless, "sometimes, from nowhere, we cry at night and we do not know why. "
Health professionals who fled the repressive country said that "there is no protocol for medical treatment and examination of victims of sexual violence to provide therapeutic care or to obtain evidence. "the report adds.
The rights organization interviewed a total of 106 North Koreans, including 72 women, four girls and 30 men. All were interviewed outside the country.
Former policeman: nine women out of ten attacked
A former policewoman from North Korea, herself a victim of sexual abuse, Heo Jong-hae told CNN that 90 percent of the women she knew had been sexually assaulted.
She said that one of her friends had considered committing suicide after being attacked at age 17.
"She said that she was crying and wanted to die, her parents told her to go home before nightfall to avoid rape, but such things happen in broad daylight. It was worse in Pyongyang where everyone was forced to go to work every day. "
Heo said that to advance, many women join the army, but that "those in charge will require sexual favors." To join the party (of the worker), it is necessary to comply ".
She added that, in her experience, in the rare case where a case was reported to the police, pressure was exerted to discontinue the investigation. "When the perpetrator is a leader, even if the case is brought before the police, it will be ignored," she said.
"Even though myself or other members of the station are trying to investigate, someone higher up, like the leader, will tell us to give up." They are untouchable.
Heo said that his personal aggression experience had largely influenced his decision to defect.
"I could not live in this environment with stress.When I share my story, I hope that other women share theirs."
"No sense of good and bad"
Even when men who sexually abuse women are held to account, their victims suffer as well.
Lee So-yeon, director of the Women's Union of New Korea, residing in Seoul at North Korea, told CNN that while she served in the North Korean military , the commanding officer of her company sexually assaulted female soldiers. He faces a forced release, while his deputy commander is assigned to a different unit. The female victims of the commander were dishonourably released.
"Authors are generally not punished if there are one or two victims, and the higher the author's rank, the less likely he or she will be punished. about 30 women.
"The victims were liberally dishonored because it was considered that they had simply had sex with the commander during their service, that they had taken an active part."
Even after the end of the incident, women continue to suffer the consequences.
"Once the message that a woman has been victimized has been announced, the company is not looking at her benevolently – instead, she is blamed for her reckless and seductive behavior," Lee said.
"There is no sense of good and bad, party leaders should consider this a problem for the situation to change, but they do not do it, they are the authors."
Non-existent conviction rate
While Pyongyang has laws that criminalize rape, trafficking and sexual relations with its subordinates, the report notes that the North Korean government hardly recognizes the existence of rape in the country.
Last July, the North Korean government declared to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) that only nine people in North Korea had been convicted of rape in 2008, seven in 2011 and five in 2015.
He added that sexual and gender-based violence was common throughout North Korean society, including in relations with officials. Some of the cases of sexual violence, including forced abortions, and rapes against women who are detained and imprisoned, constitute crimes against humanity.
