Human rights in North Korea

Human rights in North Korea are severely limited. Despite numerous rights being de jure guaranteed by the country's constitution, in practice, there is no de facto right to free speech, and the only radio, television, music and news providers that are deemed legal are those operated by the government. An estimated 80,000–120,000 prisoners are incarcerated in camps that are dedicated to political crimes, and are subject to forced labor, physical abuse and execution.

The North Korean government strictly monitors the activities of foreign visitors. Aid workers are subject to considerable scrutiny and are excluded from places and regions the government does not wish them to enter. Since citizens cannot freely leave the country, it is mainly from stories of refugees and defectors that the nation's human rights record has been constructed. The government's position, expressed through the Korean Central News Agency, is that international criticism of its human rights record is a pretext for overthrowing its Juche-based socialist system, while the abuses of its critics go unpunished.

North Korea's human rights record is among the worst in the world and has been globally condemned, with groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the European Union and the United Nations all critical of the country's record. Indeed, most international human rights organizations consider North Korea to have no contemporary parallel with respect to violations of liberty.

The General Assembly of the United Nations has since 2003 annually adopted a resolution condemning the country's human rights record. The latest resolution of December 19, 2011, passed by a vote of 123–16 with 51 abstentions, urged the government in Pyongyang to end its "systematic, widespread and grave violations of human rights", which included public executions and arbitrary detentions. North Korea rejected the resolution, saying it was politically motivated and based upon untrue fabrications. In February 2014, a UN special commission published a detailed, 400-page account based on first-hand testimonies documenting "unspeakable atrocities" committed in the country.

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