North Korean officials commit sexual violence with little concern for the consequences. The government fails to investigate and prosecute complaints, or to provide protection and services to victims, and even asserts that the country is implausibly free of sexism or sexual violence. North Korean officials commit sexual violence with little concern for the consequences, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
Women interviewed said that the sexual predators include high-ranking party officials, prison and detention facility guards and interrogators, police and secret police officials, prosecutors, and soldiers. Fearful of social disgrace and retaliation, and with few, if any, avenues for redress, North Korean women rarely report abuse.
Everything we do in North Korea can be considered illegal, so everything can depend on the perception or attitude of who is looking into your life. Park Young Hee former farmer from Ryanggang province. Since the late s, many married women, who were not obliged to attend a government-established workplace, became traders and the main breadwinners for their families.
But their work has exposed them to the risk of sexual violence in a country where gender discrimination and the subordination of women are pervasive. We [women] are at the mercy of men. Human Rights Watch said that contributing factors include deeply embedded patterns of gender inequality and a lack of sex education or awareness about sexual violence.
Other factors include the unchecked abuse of power, corruption exacerbated by socioeconomic changes, lack of rule of law, stigma toward victims of sexual violence, and lack of social support and legal services. Yoon Mi Hwa, a former trader in her 30s from North Hamgyong province who escaped North Korea in , described what happened when she was detained in in the Chongjin jipkyulso holding center in , after a previous attempt to flee to China:.
