North Korea's human rights record "remained among the worst in the world" last year with public executions, political prison camps, torture and other abuses, the U.S. State Department said in its annual human rights report Thursday.
The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014 also noted last year's landmark U.N. Commission of Inquiry (COI) report, saying it concluded the North commits "systematic, widespread, and gross human rights violations" and such violations constitute "crimes against humanity."
"The human rights record of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) remained among the worst in the world and came under particular scrutiny this year," the U.S. rights report said, referring to the North by its official name.
"Defectors continued to report public executions, disappearances, arbitrary arrest and detention, and torture, and there were reports of severe punishment of repatriated refugees," the report said.
The report said the North's government continued to subject citizens to "rigid controls over most aspects of their lives," including denial of freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, association, movement, and religion or belief, while limiting workers' rights, and denying citizens the ability to change their government.
This year's report was largely similar to last year's, except for the COI report.
The landmark U.N. report brought huge international attention to the North's human rights situation, leading to the U.N. General Assembly adopting a historic resolution calling for referring the issue to the International Criminal Court.
The U.N. Security Council also took up the issue as an official agenda item for the first time.
Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Tom Malinowski said that people in North Korea have increasingly become aware of how deprived they are of their human rights as outside information has seeped into the totalitarian nation.
"I think it is very, very interesting that in the last several years, we've seen inside North Korea far greater awareness among the population of what their rights are and how people outside of North Korea live," Malinowski said at the briefing
"What has sustained this regime over many, many years has been its ability to deny people that knowledge, and its ability to do that has eroded considerably in the last few years, and we're doing everything we can to try to get knowledge and information to the people of North Korea so that this trend continues," he said.
Thanks to the COI report, the North Korean leadership "is under more pressure on human rights today than it has been at any point in its history," Malinowski said.
Pyongyang has long been labeled as one of the worst human rights violators. The communist regime does not tolerate dissent, holds hundreds of thousands of people in political prison camps and keeps tight control over outside information.
But the North has bristled at such criticism, calling it a U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime.
"Now, we understand that some governments may take issue with these reports, including such extreme cases as North Korea or Syria, but also some governments with whom we work closely may also object. But I want to say something about that. I think it's important," Secretary of State John Kerry said at the briefing.
"The discomfort that these reports sometimes cause does more to reinforce than to undermine the value and credibility of these reports. Truth cannot successfully be evaded or dented or defeated, not over time. It can't be changed. The truth wins out," he said.
On South Korea, the U.S. report expressed concern about Seoul's interpretation of not only the anti-communist National Security Law, but also "libel laws" in limiting freedom of speech and expression and in restricting access to the Internet.
It also cited "bullying and hazing in the military" as a problem, saying a conscript Army private died from choking and beating at the hands of his superiors and that six soldiers were charged with murder in the case and received sentences of up to 45 years.
Other problems cited in the report included the absence of a comprehensive antidiscrimination law, sexual and domestic violence, child prostitution, and trafficking in persons, as well as restrictions on workers' rights, including freedom of association and assembly and limitations on political engagement of public servants and teachers. (Yonhap)