A/HRC/WGAD/2017/81
(d)
When asylum seekers, immigrants or refugees are subjected to prolonged
administrative custody without the possibility of administrative or judicial review or
remedy (category IV);
(e)
When the deprivation of liberty constitutes a violation of international law on
the grounds of discrimination based on birth, national, ethnic or social origin, language,
religion, economic condition, political or other opinion, gender, sexual orientation,
disability, or any other status, that aims towards or can result in ignoring the equality of
human beings (category V).
Submissions
Communication from the source
4.
Mi Sook Kang, who was unemployed and 35 years of age at the time of her
detention, is a national of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and usually resides in
Pongsan County, North Hwanghae Province. According to the source, Mi Sook Kang fled
to Yanji, China. However, in November 1999, she was arrested in Yanji by Chinese police
officials, who did not show any arrest warrant or a copy of any other decision issued by a
public authority. She was then repatriated to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
5.
Ho Seok Kim, who was 37 years of age at the time of his detention, is a national of
the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and usually resides in Yonsa County, North
Hamgyong Province. Prior to his detention, Ho Seok Kim had worked as a labourer at the
Sangha coal mine, located in Onsong County. The source reports that, in May 2001, Ho
Seok Kim travelled to a region on the border between Mongolia and China in an attempt to
seek asylum in the Republic of Korea, only to be arrested by Chinese police officials. The
source notes that the officials did not show an arrest warrant or a copy of any other decision
issued by a public authority. Ho Seok Kim was then repatriated to the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea.
6.
The source submits that, based on a mutual agreement between China and the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, defectors from the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea present in China are regarded as illegal aliens. Therefore, when found by Chinese
police officials, they are arrested and repatriated to the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea. In this context, the source cites several laws applied to individuals who fled from the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to China, notably: the Mutual Cooperation
Agreement for the Extradition of Defectors and Criminals of 1966; the Mutual Cooperation
Protocol for the Work of Maintaining National Security and Social Order in the Border
Areas of 1986; the Bilateral Agreement on Mutual Cooperation for the Maintenance of
State Safety and Social Order of 1988; and the Democratic People’s Republic of KoreaChina Civil and Criminal Law Cooperation Treaty of 2003.
7.
The source reports that, during the investigation, Mi Sook Kang confessed that she
had met with a citizen of the Republic of Korea while she was in China. The source
specifies that contacting a citizen of the Republic of Korea is regarded as a political crime
in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Mi Sook Kang was thus suspected of
espionage, detained and placed under surveillance: she received additional punishment for
having fled the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
8.
The source observes that the authorities of the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea do not usually inform suspects about applicable laws when arresting them, nor do
they officially state the reasons for detention. However, in this case it is assumed that the
following laws would be applied to Mi Sook Kang and Ho Seok Kim:
(a)
Article 62 (Treason against the “fatherland”) of the Criminal Law, which
stipulates that a citizen of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea who commits treason
against the “fatherland” in the form of defection, surrender, betrayal or disclosure of
secrets, is to be sentenced to more than five years’ reform through labour. Where the person
concerned has committed a grave offence, he or she is to be sentenced to 5 to 10 years’
reform through labour;
(b)
2
The “10 principles” that are the foundation of the State’s ideology.