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The United Nations passed a resolution last week that aims to launch an investigation
into alleged human rights abuses in North Korea.
So just how bad is the situation in the North?
And will the UN probe prompt any real change?
Our foreign affairs correspondent Hwang Sung-hee tells us more.
"Actually there is a very famous slogan in North Korea: 'Nothing to envy in the world.'
But actually, they should envy everything."
It's no secret that the average North Korean is stripped of the most basic human rights,
and compared to them, North Korean defector Kim Kwang-jin says he was afforded a life
of relative privilege.
"I worked at the best North Korean company, which was called Korea Foreign Insurance Company
and it was managed by Jang, Jang Song-taek, the brother-in-law of Kim Jong-il."
However, all this was soon to change, once he was suspected of leaking important information
to enemies like the United States and South Korea.
If he hadn't escaped, Kim would have been forced into one of the country's many political
prisons, where An Myeong-chul, a former guard at one of the camps, says prisoners are subject
to inhumane treatment.
"Those in North Korea's political prisons are very miserable, because they are jailed,
forced into labor and are abused for a very long time. It's like a modern-day version
of a slave prison."
It's believed that at least 200-thousand people are being held in North Korea's political
prisons, where rapes, torture, executions and slave labor are common.
In an attempt to end North Korea's alleged crimes against humanity, the UN Human Rights
Council passed a resolution last week to launch a thorough investigation on the issue.
"Of course there are doubts about the effectiveness of the UN probe as it's highly unlikely that
the UN experts will be allowed on North Korean soil.
However, many believe that the investigation could be a much bigger threat than any of
the sanctions ever imposed on the communist nation."
Ultimately, the investigation could take North Korean Kim Jong-un all the way to the International
Criminal Court ,... which could lead to division within North Korea's ruling party.
"Sanctions from nuclear provocations are imposed on the entire ruling party of North Korea,
so it's an occasion for them to join forces. But reports to the International Court of
Crime are made on an individual, so it could divide the internal government and spark a
power struggle."
There's no doubt that the UN probe will cast much-needed international attention on the
dire human rights situation in North Korea.
And for people like Mr. An, the investigation is a flicker of hope for his family back in
the North.
"I have my mother and my brothers and sisters in political prisons. I really hope that an
investigation into their conditions will be made as soon as possible."
Hwang Sung-hee, Arirang News.