(Bangkok) – North Korea’s government under Kim Jong Un in 2024 retained repressive Covid-19-era policies that restrict movement and trade and blocked humanitarian organizations from entering the country, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2025.
For the 546-page world report, in its 35th edition, Human Rights Watch reviewed human rights practices in more than 100 countries. In much of the world, Executive Director Tirana Hassan writes in her introductory essay, governments cracked down and wrongfully arrested and imprisoned political opponents, activists, and journalists. Armed groups and government forces unlawfully killed civilians, drove many from their homes, and blocked access to humanitarian aid. In many of the more than 70 national elections in 2024, authoritarian leaders gained ground with their discriminatory rhetoric and policies.
“North Korea’s severe restrictions on movement and trade have exacerbated shortages of food, medicine, and other essential goods, extending the country’s humanitarian crisis,” said Lina Yoon, senior Korea researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Concerned governments and international institutions need to refocus on North Korea’s dire human rights situation and urge the United Nations Security Council to advance the human rights dimension of its nuclear proliferation activities.”
- The government’s abusive Covid-19-related restrictions imposed between 2020 and 2023 blocked most sources of income for a large majority of the population, reducing people’s ability to buy already-scarce goods, including food and medicine. Border guards remained under orders to “unconditionally shoot” anyone trying to leave the country without permission. News reports indicate increased North Korean use of anti-personnel mines at its border with South Korea in the first half of 2024, which are intended, in part, to deter its soldiers and citizens from defecting.
- North Korea’s totalitarian government escalated ideological control over its citizens, banning the use of language perceived to be of South Korean or foreign origin, and harshly punishing those who watch foreign movies or attempt to contact people abroad.
- Heavy flooding in August destroyed homes and infrastructure crucial to food production, compounding the humanitarian crisis.
- The 10th anniversary of the landmark 2014 UN Commission of Inquiry report renewed international interest in boosting accountability for rights abuses in North Korea. However, Russia vetoed the mandate of a UN Security Council Panel of Experts to track the enforcement of sanctions on North Korea. In November, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution that requested a high-level plenary meeting featuring testimony from civil society representatives and other experts to address the human rights violations being committed in North Korea.
- North Korea’s expanded military cooperation with Russia, including sending materiel and troops to support Russia’s war with Ukraine, provided another example of the interconnection between North Korea’s security and human rights issues. The deployment of soldiers to a conflict in which Russia has committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other atrocities was reportedly carried out in exchange for oil and technology related to North Korea’s nuclear and weapons and missile programs. In January, two North Korean soldiers were captured by Ukraine, confirming North Korea’s involvement in the conflict.
North Korea should reopen its borders, invite aid organizations into the country, and accept monitored international assistance, Human Rights Watch said. Concerned governments should call for UN-backed reporting on connections between North Korea’s human rights abuses and its nuclear weapons program, and increase support for civil society groups advocating for the rights of North Koreans.