Pyongyang remains closed. The number of defectors collapses

The report on North Korea by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has been presented. Only workers sent abroad to finance the regime are able to escape, and even United Nations agencies have difficulty entering the country. Meanwhile, Kim Jong-un receives Shoigu in Pyongyang, reiterating the ‘unwavering support’ of North Korean soldiers for the Russian war in Ukraine.

Milan (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Despite the easing of measures decreed during Covid19, it remains very difficult to leave North Korea. This is according to a recent report presented by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to the UN Human Rights Council, which records a drastic drop in escapes from Pyongyang in recent years.

From January to September 2024, only 181 North Korean defectors - 159 women and 22 men - entered South Korea; the previous year there had been 196. This is much less than the 1,047 in 2019, the last year before the hermetic closure of the borders imposed due to Covid. According to the authors of the report, this is a sign that restrictions on movement remain common and heavy in North Korea.

There has also been a change in the demographics of defectors: many of those arriving in South Korea in recent years were workers sent abroad - mainly to China and Russia - to generate foreign currency for the Kim Jong Un regime, rather than trafficked women who once made up the majority of defectors.

The OHCHR document also denounces serious human rights violations within North Korea, based on the testimonies of 175 defectors collected between November 2022 and October 2023. The abuses concern detention facilities, chronic food shortages, ideological control through public executions and other acts that could constitute international crimes.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has urged North Korea to recognise the existence of human rights violations and to grant access to international human rights groups.

Just at the beginning of this month, several reports spoke of a step backwards by Pyongyang regarding the reopening of the only gateway for foreign tourists into the country.

Although some foreign embassies, such as those of Cuba, India, Poland and Sweden, have resumed operations in Pyongyang since the second half of 2024, United Nations organisations and those providing humanitarian aid still face restrictions on entry into the country, according to a separate report presented to the Human Rights Council by Elizabeth Salmon, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea. The country's malnutrition rate has been estimated at an average of 45.5% over the past three years.

Meanwhile, today North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reiterated his unwavering support for Russia's war in Ukraine during a meeting in Pyongyang with Sergei Shoigu, secretary of the Russian Security Council. At the end of February, South Korean intelligence reported that North Korea would probably send additional troops to Russia after its forces suffered heavy losses.

North Korean and Russian state media said Kim and Shoigu discussed various issues, including Russia's war in Ukraine, Moscow's talks with the Trump administration, and the security situation on the Korean peninsula.

The two reaffirmed the willingness of the leaders of the two countries to ‘unconditionally’ respect an important mutual defence treaty reached at a summit held last year in Pyongyang, which provides for mutual aid in the event of aggression by one of the two countries.