PRESS RELEASE                                                                             For Immediate Release

North Korea Freedom Coalition Releases Report on North Korea and the Universal Declaration for Human Rights; Calls for North Koreans to Have Copies of Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Washington, DC (December 8, 2009)…On the eve of the 61st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the North Korea Freedom Coalition (NKFC) is releasing a report entitled “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and North Korea” and is calling for copies of the Declaration to be made available to the North Korean people.

“When the General Assembly of the United Nation’s adopted this Declaration on December 10, 1948, it cited in the preamble that ‘disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind,’ explained NKFC Chairman, Suzanne Scholte.  “This statement is certainly descriptive of what is happening in North Korea every day, and we hope by releasing this report on how North Korea fares under the 30 Articles of this Universal Declaration that it will outrage the conscience of mankind to press for human rights for the citizens of North Korea.”

Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center added, “The Nazi Holocaust and other horrors of World War II were the historic motivation behind the crafting of this declaration in 1948, which was meant to ensure that future generations would never again have to suffer from atrocities that are being committed against the North Korean people.”

The year of 1948 when the Declaration was adopted is especially significant to Korea for that was the year that two separate governments were established for the people of the North and for the people of the South.

Because North Korea is among the most isolated countries in the world and its citizens have no understanding of the concept of ‘human rights’, NKFC is calling for five specific actions to be taken:

1) For UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and other diplomats to make a special effort to make this document known to the people of North Korea as was called for in the Preamble of the Declaration when it was adopted in 1948;
2) For those broadcasting into North Korea to highlight this document and report about its contents;
3) For those launching balloons into North Korea to include this document in future launches;
4) To make copies of the Declaration available at the North Korean defector resettlement facility of Hanawon; and
5)  For all people who enjoy these rights to use them to help the North Korean people gain theirs.

Already, Seoul-based Free North Korea Radio has pledged to begin a special program based on the Declaration and include findings from the NKFC report.  Fighters for a Free North Korea have pledged to include the Declaration in future balloon launches, while the NKFC is reaching out to the Unification Ministry of South Korea to ensure that the document is available at Hanawon.

Attached is the NKFC’s letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and the NKFC report which cites each of the 30 Articles of the Declaration and how the citizens of North Korea fare in regards to these universally accepted human rights. An excerpt of the report follows below.

For further information, contact the North Korea Freedom Coalition at nkfreedom.org or call 202-341-6767.

Excerpts from the report entitled (full report attached):
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and North Korea

Article 1.All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
But in North Korea…
“One’s Songbun (class background) is either good or bad, and detailed records are kept by party cadre and security officials of the degree of goodness or badness of everyone’s songbun.  There is really no way to escape one’s songbun.”   The favored group constitutes  about 25 to 30 percent of the population.   “Ranked below them in descending order are forty-seven distinct groups in what must be the most class-differentiated society in the world today….North Korea’s population can be broken down into three main groups, roughly equal in size.  The preferred class…is given every advantage; with hard work, individuals in this group can easily rise to the top.  The middle 40 percent of the population-the ordinary people-hope for a lucky break…There is no hope, however, of a college education or a profession career.  The bottom 30 percent of the population –the ‘undesirables’ are treated like a pariah class; all doors to advancement, the army, the higher schools of education are closed to them.”
-Kim Il Sung’s North Korea by Helen Louise Hunter

North Korea prioritizes the masses before the individual.  North Korea also discriminates against people based on their genealogical background…those of the ‘hostile class’ face direct discrimination.”
-Survey of North Korean Human Rights Conditions 2008
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Article 4.  No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

BUT IN NORTH KOREA…

“There have been widespread reports of trafficking in North Korean women and young girls into China. Some are sold by their families or by kidnappers as wives or concubines to men in China; others flee to escape starvation and deprivation in North Korea. Many such women, unable to speak Chinese, are held as virtual prisoners and some are forced to work as prostitutes…”

– Cammarota, P., Crace, J., Worly, K., & Zaltzman, H. (2007). Legal Strategies for Protecting Human Rights in North Korea. Washington, DC: U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea
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Article 15.  (1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.  (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

BUT IN NORTH KOREA…

“North Korea handed down a death sentence by firing squad for a woman who expressed the desire to go to South Korea and live in freedom…”

– North Korea Today:  Research Institute for North Korean Society, January 2008

SEE FULL REPORT ATTACHED OR VISIT NKFREEDOM.ORG