North Korea’s correctional laws have attracted sharp criticism from the advocates of humane treatment for all prisoners. The legal system of North Korea constitutes of statements provided by the top officials, the order of authority, and constitutional laws that play an integral role in enhancing the economic and social changes in the country. North Koreans put a lot of emphasis on compliance and adherence to strict laws, thus the system is quite repressive as evidenced by the severe punishments of economic and social crimes. The contact of the legal system in the country constitutes of the People’s Security Agency (PSA) and National Security Agency (NSA). NSA handles offenses relating to politics while dealing with economic crimes, trafficking, and border crossing crimes.
Approach to Sentencing
North Korea has brutal and inhuman laws that subject people to very harsh punishments. The country has three generations of punishment rule where when an individual is sentenced to prison and taken to a prison camp; other family members can also be taken alongside him or her. The following two generations that are born in the camps can stay there. The three-generation punishment is meant to wipe out all the components of class enemies. People who are in prison camp can be sentenced for committing crimes like failing to wipe off the dust on the portraits of the head of state. People with the intentions of leaving the country need government permission and those caught are executed or taken to labor camps. Harsh treatments for those who are sentenced leave a majority of them traumatized
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Citizens of North Korea are subjected to several types of common punishments. Many people are sentenced to hard labor in concentration camps for attempts to free the oppressive regime. Other sentences handed out to prisoners are the loss of property, beatings, execution, and fines (Kwan, 2017). Execution is the preferred punishment for individuals that openly speak against the government as they are considered to be enemies of the ruling regime.
Arguably, the Marxism-Lenient principles are the foundation of North Korea’s punishment laws. The Marxist principles advocate for harsh punishment of a class of people to maintain social order. Therefore, Marxism does not focus on individual behavior but that of the whole community, and this explains why family members are punished for their association with criminals. The Marxism principles in North Korea are applied by the Juche philosophy, which requires the people to fight for their revolution by not allowing interference from other countries (Schmitz, 2017). Confucianism religion, which has remained popular in North Korea, requires people to respect the hierarchical social order that is headed by the government. North Korea was subjected to the harsh Japanese rule, and some of the punishment practices are still in force today. Based on the philosophical underpinning and previous experience, North Korea has established harsh punishment laws.
Capital punishment is popularly used in North Korea against prisoners who are not expected to re-enter society for various criminal activities. North Korea uses capital punishment when the government seeks to deter people from engaging in various behaviors like treason, murder, and rape (Emery et al., 2018). For the North Korean government, capital punishment is an essential tool of maintaining order in the society, and the sentence can be handed to any members of the public depending on the government’s interest.
Efforts to reliably determine the number of prison facilities and the number of incarcerated individuals in North Korea has been futile. However, the US Department of States has identified six main prison camps including Chongjin, Hoeryong, Pukchang, Hwasong, Yodok, and Kaechon. On the other hand, the estimated population in these prisons is 150,000-200,000 notwithstanding the number of people executed by the state. The pisoners live in deplorable human conditions, where they are subjected to hard labor, poor hygiene, violence, and hunger die to lack of adequate food. Moreover, many prisoners suffer from malnutrition as they consume unbalanced diets. The conditions of North Korea’s incarceration centers are so bad that they have been likened to the Nazi camps. Besides, they are no programs for the prisoners, in fact, the prisoners are treated like slaves in their own country.
There are stark differences in the USA and North Korea’s correctional centers. Prisoners in the USA have access to basic services like food, water, shelter, and clothing; they are allowed to interact with other prisoners in an open area and families can visit. On the other, North Korea’s correctional systems have no respect for human dignity, and there are no programs for rehabilitating behavior. Prisoners in the USA have a right to fair hearing, while many prisoners in North Korea are wrongfully convicted. The only similarity between the two systems is that prisoners are sentenced for varying periods depending on the severity of a crime.
Following the above discussion, it is possible to determine factors influencing similarities and differences in the correctional system. One is the governance system in the country, that is whether a state is a democracy or dictatorship. Second is the nature of human rights, and third, a country’s accountability to an international body like the United Nations. Studying the correctional practices of another country helps states to determine the weaknesses within their system and take appropriate improvement actions.
References
Emery, C. R., Yoo, J., Lieblich, A., & Hansen, R. (2018). After the escape: physical abuse of offspring, posttraumatic stress disorder, and the legacy of political violence in the DPRK. Violence against women, 24(9), 999-1022.
Kwan, S. (2017). More than an Ignorant Bystander: Chinese Accountability and the Repatriation of North Korean Defectors. International Journal of Korean Unification Studies, 26(2).
Schmitz, T. (2017). The Juche philosophy of North Korea–Philosophical Content and Practical Failure. Journal of Ethnophilosophical Questions and Global Ethics–Vol, 1, 2.
