A/HRC/WGAD/2013/34
the relevant international instruments accepted by the States concerned, is of such gravity
as to give the deprivation of liberty an arbitrary character (category III);
(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 for
reasons of discrimination based on birth, national, ethnic or social origin, language,
religion, economic condition, political or other opinion, gender, sexual orientation, or
disability or other status and which aims towards or can result in ignoring the equality of
human rights (category V).
Submissions
Communication from the source
3.
The case summarized below was reported to the Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention as follows.
4.
The case concerns five individuals (petitioners), all nationals of the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea, who were arrested in 1994 by agents of the National Security
Agency of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. No arrest warrant was presented
and as they have been detained incommunicado since that time, family members have had
to rely on information received informally regarding the reason for their detention, their
whereabouts and status of well-being. The source believes the petitioners are detained in
political prison camps but cannot confirm their location, citing the fact that the National
Security Agency conducts activities pertaining to political prison camps in secret.
5.
Kim Im Bok, female, born 16 November 1966, usually residing at 31-ban,
Boeun-dong, Yoosun-gu, Hoiryeong, North Hamykung, was 29 years old at the time of her
arrest. In 1992, she fled to Helong, China, purportedly for economic reasons, and was
accompanied by her mother, brother (Kim Kwang Ho) and son (Sung Il). Kim Im Bok
resided apart from her family in Yanbian, where she was employed. In late February 1993,
her family were arrested, repatriated and interrogated by the National Security Agency in
North Hamkyung. As the reason for their defection was not considered political, the family
was released from detention in June 1993 and sentenced to exile in a rural area.
6.
At the end of July 1994, Kim Im Bok was arrested at the Yanbian Hospital where
she was hospitalized for treatment of a stomach problem. The source is of the opinion that
the hospital staff informed the authorities of her nationality. On 2 August 1994, she was
repatriated to Hoiryeong and interrogated by the National Security Agency for three
months. In mid-August 1994, Kim Im Bok’s brother bribed the agent of the National
Security Agency from North Hamkyung in charge of her interrogation for details of his
sister’s arrest and detention. He was informed that Kim Im Bok was considered a political
prisoner for accepting help from a Korean church in Yanbian and had received a long
prison sentence as a consequence.
7.
In October 1994, the same agent delivered a letter from Kim Im Bok to her brother,
conveying her belief that she might be sentenced to approximately 10 years imprisonment
and indicating her impending transfer from the National Security Agency prison in North
Hamkyung to Camp No. 15 in Yoduk or similar. In or around November 1994, the agent
informed her family that Kim Im Bok had been transferred to a political prison camp,
presumably Camp No. 15. The source reports that her family has enquired at prisons,
including the Jeongeo-ri Prison in Hoiryeong, those in Hamheung and others in nearby
cities to no avail, as her name does not appear on any of the prison registries.
2