Yahoo News North Korea: Extent of horrific sexual violence against women revealed in shocking report
A shocking new report has laid bare the true extent of sexual abuse against women in North Korea.
According to Human Rights Watch (HWR), North Korean officials commit sexual violence against women with no fear of any consequences.
HWR said that the abuse was so widespread that it has become part of everyday life for women in the secretive state.
The group interviewed 62 North Koreans who fled the country and spoke in detail about how rape and sexual abuse is rife.
Former trader Oh Jung-hee, who is in her 40s, told the authors: ‘On the days they felt like it, market guards or police officials could ask me to follow them to an empty room outside the market, or some other place they’d pick.
‘They consider us [sex] toys. We are at the mercy of men.
‘Sometimes, out of nowhere, you cry at night and don’t know why.’
Park Young Hee, a former farmer in her 40s, from Ryanggang province, spoke of how she was questioned and abused by a police official in a pre-trial detention facility, after she was caught fleeing North Korea.
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She told the report’s authors: ‘My life was in his hands, so I did everything he wanted and told him everything he asked. How could I do anything else?.
‘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.’
HWR said that sexual abuse had become normalised in the country – so much so that the victims did not think it was ‘unusual’.
The group said that contributing factors to this include deeply embedded patterns of gender inequality and a lack of sex education or awareness about sexual violence.
Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch’s executive director, said: ‘Sexual violence in North Korea is an open, unaddressed, and widely tolerated secret.
‘North Korean woman would probably say ‘Me Too’ if they thought there was any way to obtain justice, but their voices are silenced in Kim Jong-un’s dictatorship.’
He added: ‘North Korean women should not have to risk being raped by government officials or workers when they leave their homes to earn money to feed their families.
‘Kim Jong-un and his government should acknowledge the problem and take urgent steps to protect women and ensure justice for survivors of sexual violence.’
A 2014 UN report on North Korea concluded that systematic, widespread, and gross human rights violations were being committed by the North Korean government.
The UN commission said witnesses revealed ‘violence against women is not limited to the home, and that it is common to see women being beaten and sexually assaulted in public’.
