North Korean defector to sue Kim Jong Un for abuse
A North Korean defector will give civil and criminal accusations for the abuse he encounters while being detained in the country to the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the other four Pyongyang officials.
Choi Min-Kyung fled from North Korea in 1997 to China, but was forcibly sent back in 2008. He said he had been sexually harassed and tortured after his return.
He said that a South Korean -based right group pointed out that the defective, born in North Korean who helped Mrs. Choi, was the first time against the regime.
The South Korean courts have decided on similar allegations of abuse made by South Koreans against North Korea in the past, but such decisions are largely symbolic and are ignored by Pyongyang.
North Korea Human Rights Database Center (NKDB) Rights Group said Mrs. Choi’s case to the United Nations and International Criminal Court.
“I wish this little step to be a cornerstone for the restoration of freedom and human dignity, so that more innocent North Korean does not suffer under this cruel regime,” NKDB said.
“As a victim of torture and survivors of the North Korean regime, I carry a deep and urgent responsibility to keep the Kim Dynasty responsible for crimes against humanity.” He said.
Ms. Choi fled North Korea again in 2012 and settled south. He said he continued to rely on the residues of psychological trauma and the drug.
For years, international rights have claimed the violations of North Korea’s human rights violations from the abuse of political prisoners to systematic discrimination based on gender and class.
Hanna Song, General Manager of NKDB, told BBC Korece that the cases were important because they were following criminal charges “parallel to civil cases.
The authority said that the previous court against North Korea was limited to “civil cases”.
In 2023, a Seoul Court ordered North Korea to pay 50 million Won ($ 36,000; $ 27,000) to three South Korean men exploited after being taken as prisoners in North Korea during the Korean War.
In 2024, the North Korean government was ordered to win 100 million each of the five Korean Japanese defectors. In the 1960s and 1980s, under a return program, they were part of thousands of people who left Japan for North Korea.
Nezly years ago, they said that they were drawn to North Korea with the promise of “Paradise on Earth”, but instead they were detained and forced to work.
North Korea did not answer any of the cases.
However, Ms. Song of NKDB argued that the decisions offer plaintiffs very much needed.
“What the victims really seek is not just financial compensation, this is not approval.” He said.
He said: “It has a tremendous meaning to take a court decision in their favor. They say that their stories are not over with them – they are accepted by the state and are officially recorded in history.”
