North korea: North Korea’s state security ministry is a key perpetrator of enforced disappearances in the country, with a significant portion of these incidents linked to attempts by North Koreans to escape the regime, a report revealed on Thursday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the Transitional Justice Working Group, an advocacy organization for North Korean human rights, published the report based on detailed interviews conducted with 62 North Korean defectors between January 2021 and May 2024. The analysis covered 66 cases involving 113 victims of enforced disappearances in North Korea.
The report identified the Ministry of State Security, known as North Korea’s counterintelligence and secret police agency, as the “sole perpetrator” in the arrest and detention of 62 individuals, accounting for 54.9 percent of the 113 victims. When considering cases of individuals who went missing following arrest, detention, and repatriation, the state agency was held responsible for the disappearances of 92 victims,
representing 81.4 percent of the total.
The report highlighted the primary reasons for enforced disappearances in North Korea, with activities related to escaping the regime being the most common cause at 39.8 percent. This was followed by guilt by association at 25.7 percent, and contact with the outside world, including South Korea, at 8.8 percent.
The report also noted that one in two victims of enforced disappearances was a family member or relative. Victims in their 20s and 30s constituted the largest age group at 39 percent, with children under the age of 10 also affected, underscoring the gravity of human rights abuses in North Korea.
Additionally, nearly 80 percent of the victims were apprehended within North Korea, while the remaining cases occurred in other countries, such as China and Russia. The report was released in anticipation of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s universal periodic review of North Korea scheduled for November 7. This review mechanism mandates each U.N. member state to undergo
a peer review of its human rights record every 4.5 years.