Identities Lost: North Korea’s Human Rights Violations Against Individuals with Disabilities

By Emily Spaugh, HRNK Research Intern
Edited by Rosa Park, HRNK Director of Programs and Editor and Benjamin Fu, HRNK Research Intern

August 3, 2020

​All around the world, the fight for equal rights for people with disabilities is an uphill and seemingly endless battle. Even in developed countries, people with disabilities are often overlooked and undervalued. In any conversation about human rights, bringing people with disabilities to the table is imperative. In a situation as dire as the one in North Korea, it is almost unthinkable what someone with a disability may have to endure at the hands of the Kim regime, as they are one of the most vulnerable demographics in the world.

​Progress in Disability Rights
Over the last two decades or so, North Korea has made some outward progress in disability rights. A 1998 revision to North Korea’s Constitution mentions in Article 72 that those who are unable to work due to physical disabilities are eligible for free medical care.[1] In June 2003, North Korea passed the Law on Protection of Disabled People, which contains various protections and provisions for people with disabilities.[2] North Korea also signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2013 and ratified it in 2016.[3] The act was designed to protect the rights of people with disabilities and ensure that they are given equal treatment. This is one recommendation of the February 2014 report of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (UN COI) that North Korea actually implemented.[4]

There is some evidence that North Korea has made real changes in accordance with these legislative actions. When the regime passed the law in 2003, they put provisions in place for those with physical disabilities, and some were provided with wheelchairs, crutches, and prostheses.[5] There are now a number of orthopedic centers, such as the Hamhung Orthopedic Factory and the Hamhung Orthopedic Hospital, that focus on the needs of amputees or those born without limbs.[6] North Korean athletes with physical disabilities have also made several appearances at the Paralympics and at specialized events in Pyongyang.

The 2003 law also benefitted people who are deaf and/or blind, making devices such as hearing aids available. Workshops, specialized schools, and conferences like the Good Fellowship are now available for unknown percentages of the deaf and/or blind population.[7] North Korea has also allowed a number of international programs to provide aid in this area. For example, Handicap International, an arm of the European Union, not only provides services to children who are deaf and/or blind, but also helps to provide orthopedic services to those with physical disabilities.[8]

In May of 2017, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Catalina Devandas-Aguilar, paid a visit to North Korea. This was the very first time a UN Rapporteur had ever done so. Regarding her visit, she stated, “The Government has shown openness to disability issues in particular through the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and some progress in other areas, including the recognition of the Korean sign language as an official language of the DPRK.”[9]

A Closer Look
Due to these positive actions, many North Korea observers have concluded that disability rights is one area in which the country has improved. However, this conclusion is problematic because it ignores several significant aspects in the bigger picture. One of the most well-known North Korean escapees, Ji Seong-ho, who was severely injured in an accident that caused him to lose his leg and hand, recalls being beat for 20 days by prison guards as they called him derogatory names.[10] This was in 2000, before North Korea passed the Law on Protection of Disabled People, but after the 1998 revision to the constitution. One could argue that things were still shifting, but we still do not know how people with disabilities are being treated in the prison system.

The prison system aside, most of the facilities tailored to people with disabilities are located in Pyongyang or other large cities like Hamhung. It has been well documented that the country’s elite, especially those living in Pyongyang, live much differently than the rest of North Korea. In his 2016 report, Pyongyang Republic, published by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, Robert Collins writes, “In general, privileges in North Korea are associated with food security, physical security, healthcare, education, and employment opportunities. However, the highest privilege under the Kim regime is widely considered to be residence in Pyongyang, especially in high-quality housing within the city.”[11] If the highest privilege in North Korea is living in high-quality housing in Pyongyang, then the residents of that housing also have the highest level of access to other privileges, such as food security and healthcare. Therefore, how people with disabilities belonging to these elite families are treated almost certainly is not the same as how they are treated in smaller cities or more rural provinces.

Furthermore, I found that almost none of the facilities or programs mentioned in available research aim to meet the needs of those with cognitive disabilities, such as Down Syndrome, Autism, or traumatic brain injuries. One exception is the Korean Rehabilitation Center for Children with Disabilities in Pyongyang, but this center serves only a tiny percentage of this demographic. In 2013, the clinic housed a mere 20 individuals, and only a fraction of them had cognitive disabilities.[12] UN Special Rapporteur Devandas-Aguilar stated, “There is a range of challenges in realizing these rights for all persons with disabilities; not only for the blind and the deaf, or those with physical impairments.”[13] She pointed out that North Korea tends to have a specific focus on disabilities that can be “cured” or “rehabilitated.” This model, of course, leaves out people with cognitive disabilities for which there is no cure. This runs parallel to reports from escapees such as Ji Seong-ho, who recalls that he had never seen a person with Down Syndrome until he went to South Korea.[14]

This lack of representation is problematic on many levels. The fight for disability rights cannot stop with those who are, from a cognitive standpoint, considered typically developing, nor can the fight stop with those who are from families with money and power. When one investigates the whereabouts of those with cognitive disabilities, the trail goes alarmingly cold.

Lost Identities
To my knowledge, there are no in-depth reports available on the full spectrum of persons with disabilities in North Korea. Most of the evidence we have about how people with cognitive disabilities are treated comes from escapees’ testimonies. In a 2013 report that primarily focused on women’s rights, the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR) did attempt to investigate the human rights situation of people with disabilities. They found their investigation nearly impossible to complete due to a lack of verifiable data and extreme cultural discrimination against this segment of the population.[15] While NKHR was not able to go as in-depth in their investigation as originally intended, its interviews with North Korean escapees provide what is, perhaps, the best compilation of information we currently have on the subject.

Most of the North Korean people NKHR interviewed had come in contact with someone who had lost limbs and were familiar with facilities designed for those who are deaf and/or blind.[16] There were also a few reports of facilities for “mentally disabled people,” which seemed to be referring to those with mental illness.[17] However, when asked about those with what the report refers to as “genetic diseases,” such as Down Syndrome, most reported that such diseases were not common in North Korea. However, these types of disabilities are common all over the world, and the report links this gap in knowledge to both cultural discrimination and the possibility that doctors are not trained to identify these particular genetic disorders.[18] Furthermore, the NKHR report states, “North Koreans often reported that the person/family is ‘cursed’ if a disabled child is born into the family. North Koreans have a common traditional saying that the person must have committed a crime in the ‘previous life’ and thus the disabled and the family is being punished in ‘present life.’”[19] Therefore, there is the terrifying possibility that the North Korean regime is simply killing people with cognitive disabilities to eradicate what they perceive as a punishment or curse on society. This possibility is backed up by the fact that some of the women interviewed reported that—due to the social and financial pressure of having a child with a disability—many parents decide to kill these children through suffocation, abandon them, or allow the government to take them.[20] Lack of awareness, pure denial, or whatever the case may be, the consensus seems to be that those with cognitive disabilities are generally not protected by society or the government.

The report also draws attention to a rumored facility called “Hospital 83,” allegedly located on a remote island. One interviewee who was part of the People’s Safety Agency in North Korea before he defected reported that this facility conducts biological and chemical weapons tests on people with disabilities, among other gruesome practices, such as dismemberment and medical experimentation. He explained that parents often give their children away voluntarily or are coerced by the government to do so. It was also reported that families could be “expelled” [i.e. forcibly removed from their residences and internally deported] if found to be caring for someone with a disability.[21] Once a child has been given over to the government, the report stated that officials delete the identities of these individuals. This report is not a stand-alone record, and other defectors have reported similar stories of such ill fate.
 
It is worth reiterating that science and statistics tell us that people with cognitive disabilities are born all over the world, including North Korea. Plainly stated, the reality seems to be that the regime abducts, tortures, and murders people with disabilities. To say that this demographic is not given a shred of human decency is an understatement, as they are not even allowed to take their identity to their graves.
 
Disability Rights are Human Rights
While North Korea may be making some progress, we cannot be satisfied with the lack of representation and protection of those with disabilities. The fact is that we still know very little about what is happening to people with cognitive disabilities, and the outlook does not look promising. We need more information about “Hospital 83” and other institutions that serve similar alleged purposes. We must listen to escapees who tell stories of chemical and biological weapons being tested on these vulnerable individuals. We must call into question the whereabouts of countless children who have been erased from existence. North Korean individuals with disabilities are one of the most silenced, underrepresented groups in the world today. We must bring attention to these individuals when we speak of North Korean human rights, lest their identities be lost forever.

Emily would like to dedicate this article to her twin brother, Luke, who has Down Syndrome. May the world someday see the value of all lives.

Emily Spaugh is a second-year Master of Public Affairs candidate at Indiana University. She is specializing in International Relations.

[1] Katharina Zellweger, People with Disabilities in a Changing North Korea [PDF File]. Retrieved from
https://aparc.fsi.stanford.edu/publications/people_with_disabilities_in_a_changing_north_korea.
[2]Ibid. 
[3] United Nations, Office of the High Commissioner, Country Profile for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea [PDF File]. Retrieved from https://indicators.ohchr.org/
[4] United Nations Human Rights Council, Report of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea [PDF File]. Retrieved from
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/CoIDPRK/Pages/ReportoftheCommissionofInquiryDPRK.aspx
[5] Katharina Zellweger, People with Disabilities in a Changing North Korea [PDF File]. Retrieved from
https://aparc.fsi.stanford.edu/publications/people_with_disabilities_in_a_changing_north_korea
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] United Nations, “UN disability expert welcomes opportunity for constructive dialogue on human rights in North Korea,” United Nations Media Unit, 15 May 2020, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21615&LangID=E. Accessed 31 July 2020.
[10] Choe Sang-Hun, “North Korean Defector, Honored by Trump, Has a Remarkable Escape Story,” The New York Times, 31 Jan. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/31/world/asia/north-korean-defector-trump.html. Accessed 27 July, 2020.
[11] Robert Collins, Pyongyang Republic, [PDF File]. Retrieved from https://www.hrnk.org/publications/hrnk-publications.php?page=2
[12] Katharina Zellweger, People with Disabilities in a Changing North Korea [PDF File]. Retrieved from
https://aparc.fsi.stanford.edu/publications/people_with_disabilities_in_a_changing_north_korea
[13] United Nations, “UN disability expert welcomes opportunity for constructive dialogue on human rights in North Korea,” United Nations Media Unit, 15 May 2020, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21615&LangID=E. Accessed 31 July 2020.
[14] Choe Sang-Hun, “North Korean Defector, Honored by Trump, Has a Remarkable Escape Story,” The New York Times, 31 Jan. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/31/world/asia/north-korean-defector-trump.html. Accessed 27 July 2020.
[15] Joanna Hosaniak, Status of Women’s Rights in the Context of Socio-Economic Changes in the DPRK [PDF File]. Retrieved from
https://uprdoc.ohchr.org/uprweb/downloadfile.aspx?filename=767&file=Annexe1
[16] Ibid.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Ibid. Pg. 40
[20] Ibid.
[21] Ibid. Pg. 42