World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - North Korea

Environment

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is an East Asian state on the mountainous peninsula which juts out into the Sea of Japan on the north-eastern edge of China. It shares the peninsula with a southern neighbour, South Korea. Both were until 1945 part of Korea, a country occupied by the Japanese after 1910. The peninsula's location at the very end of the Asian continent, far away from the migration routes of early populations, help understand its particularly homogenous ethnic makeup.

History

While North Korea's ethnic makeup has been homogenous throughout most of its history, the continued presence of religious minorities is closely linked to some of the peculiarities in the country's evolution unique past. Mahayana Buddhism remains a surprisingly small minority due partially to nearly 500 years of attempts to remove Buddhist influences and promote Confucianist ideals during the Joseon dynasty (1392 -1910) until the occupation of Korea by Japan in 1910. While the Japanese authorities tried to promote Buddhism, these efforts did not seem to have any significant impact.

Christianity for its part made rather slow inroads initially: the first Roman Catholic missionary only arrived in Korea in 1785 and for almost 100 years the Joseon rulers mainly tried to restrain or even prohibit the activities of Christian minorities. This changed after 1881, when Korea opened up to Western countries and Protestant missionaries and others began to actively proselytise and open schools, hospitals and orphanages. Protestants were particularly present in opposing the Japanese occupation, which may explain some of their growth in the country. Immediately before the start of the Japanese occupation Christian minorities were particularly successful in the northern part of Korea, with the result that by 1945 some 13 per cent of Pyongyang's population were Christians despite Japanese suppression. There may have been 52,000 Catholics and 200,000 Protestants in North Korea at the end of World War II: officially 800 Catholics and 150 Protestant 'believers' remain today.

It is also at the beginning of the 20th Century that a number of religious sects began to form in Korea, one of which was to subsequently become quite widespread. Chondogyo is a syncretic Korean religious movement with roots in peasant uprisings of the previous century which was able to grow substantially in part as a native Korean response to the Japanese occupation.

The rise of communism and the creation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 1948 have largely meant that only 'officially sanctioned' religious activities may be conducted in the country for over half a century. North Korea's brand of communism is also influenced by the application of the 'Juche' doctrine in state policy which promotes economic self-sufficiency and self-reliance in defence as well as requiring absolute loyalty to the party and leader.

In the initial period after the creation of North Korea, President Kim Il Sung instituted a policy which in effect led to the elimination of all public religious practice, and by the 1960s all religious minorities were treated in much the same way: there were no Christian churches, Buddhist temples, or Chondogyo places of worship operating. Partially this may also have been linked to the Juche doctrine which was promoted by the government as an alternative to traditional religion, and is often seen as opposed to Christianity and Buddhism.

By the end of the 1960s and the early 1970s, there was a slight change of policy which began to emerge which permitted the re- emergence of highly controlled official public religious organisations in order to be able to reach out to religious constituencies outside North Korea. This led to the creation of official religious federations. The activities of all members of the Buddhist, Christian and Chondogyo minorities have thus in recent decades been subject to heavy surveillance by the state and are channelled through and only permitted within the three corresponding state-sponsored religious organisations, the Korean Buddhists' Federation, the Christian Federation, and the Chondogyo Youth Party.

Buddhists seem to be given slightly more latitude by the country's regime: there are reportedly 300 Buddhist temples (though many of which are little more than cultural artefacts) in the country. More recently there may have been some cosmetic changes, with a new Protestant church and a Catholic cathedral opened in 1988, a second small Protestant church was opened in 1992, and a Russian Orthodox church completed in 2006. These are claimed by critics to be 'show' churches for propaganda purposes where foreigners can attend religious services.

Peoples

Main languages: Korean, Chinese

Main religions: Chondogyo, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, shamanism

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) is one of the world's most homogeneous countries in linguistic and ethnic terms: almost all 23 million Koreans (Source: CIA World Factbook, 2007 estimate) are the descendants of migratory groups who entered the Korean Peninsula several thousands of years ago. There is only one very small Chinese minority of perhaps around 50,000, and even the number of foreigners living in the country is quite small when compared to its southern neighbour.

Exact numbers for religious minorities are extremely difficult to obtain and verify given the nature of the state's governing regime. There is no majority religion in the country since the total of all religious practitioners is apparently far less than 50 percent, with even traditional religions such as Buddhism now thought to have relatively few active adherents.

Governance

A dictatorship under the rule of Kim Jong Il, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is considered by many in the West to have one of the world's most opaque and repressive governments. The human rights abuses alleged over the years have been extensive: extrajudicial killings, disappearances, and arbitrary detention; torture; forced abortions and infanticide in prisons; lack of fair trials; violations of freedom of expression, freedom of religion, etc.

Human rights protection still remains weak and underdeveloped, with no real supervisory judicial capacity in place to ensure its application. Despite having ratified a number of human rights treaties, and despite the existence of a number of basic human rights in its constitution, these rights are often either qualified in the constitution for reasons of public security or must be exercised consistently with 'socialist norms of life' or 'collective spirit'. Other constitutional rights such as freedom of association lack any kind of enforcement legislation and are in practice ignored by authorities. It can be said that the rule of law which is fundamental for the protection of the rights of individuals is severely underdeveloped.

There has never been any specific provision for the protection or recognition of minorities in North Korean legislation or constitution, largely because no substantial minority has existed in that country since its formation. That situation remains a consistent feature of the state's legal and political makeup.

For religious minorities the context is different but not necessarily reassuring: while the state's current constitution of 1992 includes freedom of religion in one of its provisions, it at the same time includes wording to the effect that 'no one may use religion as a means by which to drag in foreign powers or to destroy the state or social order.' The cult of personality surrounding Kim Jong Il, the official Juche doctrine which has been used to supplant religious practice, and the rigid state control over the activities of the three approved official federations all suggest religious minorities are not free to profess and practise their own religion.

Minorities

None listed.

Resources

Minority based and advocacy organisations

Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights
Tel: +822 723 1672
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://nkhumanrights.or.kr

Human Rights Without Frontiers International
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.hrwf.net

Korean Institute for National Unification
Tel: +822 901 4300
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.kinu.or.kr/eng

Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights
Tel: +822 723 6711
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.nknet.org

North Korea Freedom House (USA)
Tel: +1 202 747 7004
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.nkfreedomhouse.org

US Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (USA)
Tel: +1 202 378 9579
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.hrnk.org

Sources and further reading

[There are no specific reports or studies on the Chinese minority in North Korea]

Choi, Sung-Chul, 'Human rights and North Korea', Institute of Unification Policy, 1999.

Chosun Journal: Networking Communities for Human Rights in North Korea, http://chosunjournal.com/index.php

Daily NK - The Hub of North Korean News, http://www.dailynk.com/english/index.php

'Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee: Democratic People's Republic of Korea', 27/08/2001, UN Document CCPR/CO/72/PRK.

'Failure to Protect: A Call to the UN Security Council to Act in North Korea', US Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, Washington, 2006.

Grayson, James, 'Korea: A Religious History', Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1989.

Human Rights in North Korea, Derechos Human Rights, http://www.derechos.org/human-rights/nasia/nkorea.html

'Human rights in North Korea', Sung-Chul Choi (ed.), Center for the Advancement of North Korean Human Rights, 1995.

'Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea)', Minnesota Lawyers.

International Human Rights Committee and Human Rights Watch/Asia, 1988.

Human Rights Watch Asia: North Korea, http://hrw.org/asia/dprkorea.php

Life and Human Rights Quarterly Journal, Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights.

'North Korea: Briefing on present situation', Amnesty International, January 2006.

North Korean Human Rights: Trends and Issues/National Human Rights Commission Republic of Korea, NGOs Seminar on North Korean Human Rights/5 June 2003

Pan, Lynn, 'The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas', Landmark Books, 1998.

'Religion in North Korea', US Library of Congress, http://countrystudies.us/north-korea/36.htm

'Religious Culture in Korea', Republic of Korea Ministry of Culture, Seoul, 1996.

'Situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea: Report submitted by the Special Rapporteur, Vitit Muntarbhorn', UN Document E/CN.4/2006/35, 23 January 2006.

Soon Hyung Yi, 'Human rights of the child in North Korea', International Seminar on North Korean Human Rights 2005, National Human Rights Commission of Korea, 2005.

'Thank You Father Kim Il Sung: Eyewitness Accounts of Severe Violations of Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion in North Korea', US Commission on International Religious Freedom, November 2005.

'White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea', Korean Institute for National Unification, Seoul, 2006.