White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea 2019

Book excerpt: The Korea Institute for National Unification has annually published the White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea since 1996 to raise awareness on North Korean human rights issues at home and abroad, and provide basic materials by objectively surveying and analyzing the North Korean human rights situation. The White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea 2019 incorporates information from in-depth interviews with 135 North Korean defectors who had stayed in North Korea until most recently before entering South Korea. These interviewees were selected with consideration to their demographic and social backgrounds. This White Paper 2019 looks into human rights situations in the North in the following parts: the Reality of Civil and Political Rights, the Reality of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, Vulnerable Groups, and Major Issues.