The U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and North Korea: How North Korea is Violating these Rules with its Operation of the Yodok Concentration Camp

Resumo

Since the days of Kim Il Sung, North Korea has been operating a series of concentrations campus aimed at eliminating "counter-revolutionaries" and anyone who dares question the Kim familiy's regime. Perhaps the most notorious of these camps is "Yodok", a mass political penal-labour colony located in the mountainous Hamgyong Namdo Province. Run by the National Security Agency, Yodok is the site of a myriad of human rights abuses, including egregious acts of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment. in this article, the author will describe the Yodok camp's inhumane treatment of its prisoners, and how North korea, through its operation of Yodok, is violating the "U.N. Minimun Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners", a highly influential code of practice which guide how all U.N. countries treat their prisoners. In the end, he will recommend ways the International Community can apply pressure on North Korea to close the Yodok camp.