The Worst of the Worst 2012 - North Korea
| Publisher | Freedom House |
| Publication Date | 4 July 2012 |
| Cite as | Freedom House, The Worst of the Worst 2012 - North Korea, 4 July 2012, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4ff420f828.html [accessed 7 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Population: 24,457,000
Capital: Pyongyang
Political Rights: 7
Civil Liberties: 7
Status: Not Free
| Ten-Year Ratings Timeline for Year under Review (Political Rights, Civil Liberties, Status) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Under Review | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
| Rating | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF | 7,7,NF |
2011 Key Developments: North Korea's longtime leader, Kim Jong-il, died in December 2011 and was succeeded by his son and heir apparent, Kim Jong-un. The new leader's relative youth and political inexperience led to speculation about the country's future stability and the direction of its foreign and nuclear policies. At the beginning of 2011, relations with South Korea were near an all-time low, though North Korea made deliberate efforts to improve its relations with China, Russia, and the United States throughout the year.
Political Rights: North Korea is not an electoral democracy. Kim Jong-il led the country following the 1994 death of his father, Kim Il-sung, to whom the office of president was permanently dedicated in a 1998 constitutional revision. Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-il's youngest son, became the country's new leader after his father's death in December 2011. North Korea's parliament, the Supreme People's Assembly, is a rubber- stamp institution that meets irregularly for only a few days each year. All candidates for office, who run unopposed, are preselected by the ruling Korean Workers' Party and two subordinate minor parties. A delegates' meeting of the Korean Workers' Party convened in September 2010, the first such gathering since 1966, and took actions including the promotion of several members of the Kim family. Kim Jong-un was elected as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, and was subsequently appointed to the party's Central Committee. Corruption is believed to be endemic at all levels of the state and economy.
Civil Liberties: The constitution provides for freedom of speech and the press, but in practice these rights are nonexistent. All media outlets are run by the state. Televisions and radios are permanently fixed to state channels, and all publications are subject to strict supervision and censorship. Internet access is restricted to a few thousand people with state approval, and foreign websites are blocked. Although freedom of religion is guaranteed by the constitution, it does not exist in practice. Nearly all forms of private communication are monitored by a huge network of informers. Freedom of assembly is not recognized, and there are no known associations or organizations other than those created by the state. Strikes, collective bargaining, and other organized-labor activities are illegal. North Korea does not have an independent judiciary. The UN General Assembly has recognized and condemned severe North Korean human rights violations including the use of torture, public executions, extrajudicial and arbitrary detention, and forced labor; the absence of due process and the rule of law; death sentences for political offenses; and an extensive network of camps for political prisoners. Inmates face brutal conditions, and collective or familial punishment for suspected dissent by an individual is a common practice. There is no freedom of movement, and forced internal resettlement is routine. There have been widespread reports of trafficked women and girls among the tens of thousands of North Koreans who have recently crossed into China.
