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Ministry of People’s Security

In January 2013, the MPS apparently issued a proclamation on behalf of the National Defence Commission that urged the population to report various types of behaviour to the security forces, including possessing “strange and decadent” goods such as recordings, videos, pictures and publications, which do not conform to the local custom, and watching and distributing foreign television shows. 61

Detention and removal of hoameless children

The Ministry of People’s Security, in its capacity as North Korea’s police force, has tried to remove kotjebi (homeless youth) from public. Most of these cases have been in Pyongyang, and have preceded major state events. The most high profile attempt was made in August 2010, when Kim Jong-un tasked the MPS and the State Security Department (SSD) with removing kotjebi from Pyongyang. He hoped to removed them before the Third Conference of the Workers’ Party of Korea, which was set to begin on the September 28th. Kim Jong-un was voted the vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea. The children, and homeless adults who were also rounded up, were sent to a mixture of “ordinary prison camps, short-term forced labour detention facilities or ‘rehabilitation homes’ for kotjebi in their provinces of origin”. The MPS and SSD reported that “a very large number” had been rounded up in the operation and sent to detention facilities.

The Ministry has also reportedly taken children that it suspected were homeless and sent them to “children’s shelters”. One child, who was later rescued from the shelter after four months, recounted her experience to the UN Commission on Human Rights in North Korea:

[the child] was arrested and beaten by MPS agents when trying to catch a train to Pyongyang. Along with other children, she was sent to a children’s shelter. When they first arrived, they were told to stand on a chair, and were beaten with a thick leather belt. The children had to live in dark basement rooms and use a plastic bucket as a toilet. They were fed a small amount of salty soup with a little bit of radish and flour, two or three times a day. She remembers always being hungry.

Commission Report Page XX

Have taken part in rounding up street children:

•  A former official recalled that SSD and MPS were assigned by Kim Jong-un in August 2010 to get rid of street children and unregistered citizens in Pyongyang. The goal was to make the capital city neat and tidy for the Central Committee Congress to be held in September 2010. To carry out the operation, additional SSD and MPS officials were called in from the provinces to carry out the operation. An extremely large number of street children were apprehended and sent to “rehabilitation homes” for street children in their provinces of origin. Adults were sent to labour training camps, or, in some cases, ordinary prison camps (kyohwaso).[1]

•  One witness was arrested and beaten by MPS agents when trying to catch a train to Pyongyang. Along with other children, she was sent to a children’s shelter. When they first arrived, they were told to stand on a chair, and were beaten with a thick leather belt. The children had to live in dark basement rooms and use a plastic bucket as a toilet. They were fed a small amount of salty soup with a little bit of radish and flour, two or three times a day. She remembers always being hungry. Her parents found her after four months and collected her. Other children had been there for a year.[2]

A former high level official testified that in August 2010, Kim Jong-un issued an order to SSD and MPS to get rid of kotjebi and homeless adults in Pyongyang before holding the Third Conference of the Workers’ Party of Korea that took place on 28 September 2010 and prepared his succession to become the Supreme Leader. SSD and MPS brought in additional units from the provinces and organized them into a shock crackdown unit. Based on the severeness of their wrongdoing, those caught were to be sent to ordinary prison camps, short-term forced labour detention facilities or “rehabilitation homes” for kotjebi in their provinces of origin. After the operation SSD and MPS reported back to Kim Jong-un that a very large number of kotjebi and other unregistered citizens had been arrested and sent back to their home provinces for detention in the said institutions.

Border Patrol

In addition to its other duties, the MPS also has a presence on the border, where it works alongside the KPS(The army one?) and SSD to catch potential defectors and interrogate North Koreans repatriated from China. In 2010, the MPS put out a decree that defined defection as “a crime of treachery against the nation”.

When defectors are either caught in China by North Korean agents or sent back after their arrest by Chinese police forces, they are either sent to the SSD or the MPS. Because the MPS functions as North Korea’s standard police, rather than political, it receives the mundane prisoners. Prisoners who are decided to have only gone to China for economic reasons, rather than in an effort to defect, fall under the category of mundane They are sent to detention centers called jipkyulso where they are detained and questioned. Some of the prisoners are then taken back to their home county and placed in labour camps (rodongamryundae) for several months to a year. The others are sent to ‘ordinary’ prison camps (kyohwaso) for much longer periods of time.

The MPS reportedly issued a decree in 2010 making the crime of defection a “crime of treachery against the nation”

•  Mr A regularly travelled to China to find food to survive and also engaged in some trading activities. During these visits he came into contact with Christian churches. When the MPS interrogated him under torture about the reason for his visits, he took the decision to flee to China on a permanent basis.[1]

MPS also operates on the border with China. Actively participates in blocking people from defecting.

1.Conversely, those found to have solely gone to China looking for food and/or work are handed over to the MPS, where the interrogation process is usually recommenced. If the MPS confirms that the person is only an “ordinary” border crosser, it commits him or her to detention in a holding centre (jipkyulso). There, the person remains detained, sometimes for months, until MPS agents from the person’s home county collect him or her and place the victim, usually without a trial, for several months to a year in a labour training camp (rodongdanryundae).

The rest[those who had been forcibly repatriated] were to be sent to MPS facilities and from there to an ordinary prison (kyohwaso)

Detention Facilities

Torture

1.The Commission finds that during the interrogation carried out by the SSD and MPS, severe beatings and other forms of torture are systematically used, until the interrogators are convinced that the victim has stated the truth and confessed to the totality of his or her wrongdoing. With rare exceptions, every single one of more than 100 persons repatriated from China who were interviewed by the Commission were beaten or subjected to worse forms of torture during interrogations. Inhumane detention conditions that characterize the interrogation detention centres of the SSD and MPS exert additional pressure on detainees to confess quickly to secure their survival.

2.•  Mr Kim Song-ju observed from his cell at the Musan MPS Interrogation Centre how 10 women who had been repatriated from China were lined up in a row before a female officer inserted her hand into their vaginas one after the other. Mr Kim also recounted how the guards ordered him, in his capacity as designated cell leader, to monitor the faeces of inmates to watch out for hidden money. The guards took any money found

3.Subsequently, Mr Kim was transferred for further interrogation to the MPS interrogation detention centre in Musan. Mr Kim explained that he had to crawl on his hands and knees into the cell he shared with 40 other prisoners, because the entrance door was only about 80 cm high. The guards told him that “when you get to this prison you are not human, you are just like animals, and as soon as you get to this prison, you have to crawl just like animals.”

4.Another witness, who was arbitrarily detained, described how the cell doors in the MPS detention centre in Chongjin were also constructed so that inmates could only crawl in and out.

5. A former MPS official revealed that the pre-trial investigation bureau in the headquarters of the Ministry of People’s Security in Pyongyang made use of a small metal cage. Victims would be crammed into the cage for several hours so that the circulation of blood to extremities becomes interrupted and other parts of the body swell up. The victim turns into a rusty brown colour. After removal from the cage, the victim is abruptly “unfolded” causing further excruciating pain.

6.The witness also recalled receiving formal training on torture techniques from a senior investigator holding the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. That senior official taught MPS officials how to cut off a suspect’s blood circulation using straps, while simultaneously placing the suspect in physical stress positions in order to inflict the maximum level of pain.

7.Mr A was interrogated by the MPS, because he frequently travelled to China in order to secure the means to support his family in the DPRK. He described being hit with a thick wooden club, sustaining lasting injuries to his kidneys: “They hit me on my back dozens of times, and I almost fainted, I could not scream anymore. They stopped beating me because I could no longer scream … I think they were told to beat me until they got an answer.

8.•  Ms P recounted that she was beaten so badly during interrogations carried out by the MPS in Onsong (North Hamgyong Province) that both her legs were broken. She also suffered fractures on her spine.[1]

9.•  At the Interrogation Detention Centre of the MPS in Musan, Mr Kim Song-ju witnessed how a cellmate was punished for having spoken without authorization. The guard ordered him to stick his hand through the narrow gap between the cell bars. The guard then beat the prisoner’s hand about 30 times, using a metal gun cleaning tool swung with full force. “Seeing this prisoner’s hand I was shocked”, Mr Kim recalled, and elaborated:

10.“He had a lump as a result of the hitting with this device that was as thick as his own hand. The guard told the prisoner to return to the cell but the prisoner could not retrieve his [swollen hand through the narrow bars] and the prisoner just squatted down and continued crying, he couldn’t do anything else.”

11.•  In February 2011, the witness was repatriated from China. After enduring 12 days of beatings and interrogations by the SSD, she was handed over to the MPS. During two months of detention in an MPS interrogation detention Center, she and other inmates were beaten with various objects, in particular during interrogations. People who fainted during an interrogation session were accused of faking their unconsciousness and made to start again. Although she paid bribes in exchange for more lenient treatment, the witness was still subjected to beatings with wheelbarrow handles, gun barrels and pieces of wood. Detainees had to engage in forced labour during the day. Two men were beaten to death because they had not reached their work targets. A woman starved to death. While in their cells, inmates had to sit still the entire time in a cross legged position with their hands on their knees. If they moved, they would be forced to do headstands and squats or they were beaten. Some guards took advantage of the coercive setting to rape female inmates, who were taken to a nearby field for “questioning”.[1]

12.When the SSD determines that the suspect committed no more than a minor political wrong or the case is deemed non-political, it usually refers the case for further interrogation to the MPS.

13.Where the MPS handles a case, the reverse rule of thumb applies: The more serious cases are disposed of through the judiciary, while the courts are often bypassed in less serious cases.[1]

14.If the judicial route is pursued, the MPS cooperates with the Office of the Prosecutor, which seeks prison sentences or, where deemed appropriate and politically expedient, the death penalty.

15.In cases of relatively minor wrongs, the MPS commits a suspect to imprisonment and forced labour in a short-term forced labour detention facility for periods ranging from a few months to two years. In some cases, county level SSD offices may follow the same practice in case they end up dealing with suspects of relatively minor wrongs.

Until 2006, the Ministry of People’s Security and its predecessor, the Social Safety Agency, also managed political prison camps, subject to oversight by the State Security Department and the Workers’ Party of Korea. Although the MPS camps did not share all features of the existing camps (e.g. the prohibition of marriage), these camps were similar to the currently existing camps in that inmates suffered enforced disappearance and were imprisoned without trial in conditions of starvation and forced labour

A former MPS official saw numerous starving prisoners who were left to die during a visit to Kyohwaso No. 4 in Kandong County.[1] Shocked by what the witness saw, the witness made an enquiry with the MPS Corrections Bureau in 2010 and was informed that more than 800 inmates per year were dying in Kyohwaso No. 4. The death toll was aggravated by the fact that many inmates were from nearby Pyongyang. In consequence of them having committed crimes, their families had been banished from Pyongyang to remote provinces.[2] This meant that the families could not regularly visit them and bring food

1.The vast majority of short-term forced labour camps are administered by the MPS and local authorities. A very small number of the known short-term forced labour detention camps are run by the SSD and the KPA Military Security Command.

2.In a comprehensive 2012 study, the Database Center for Human Rights in North Korea identified 49 labour training camps administered by the MPS and two by the KPA Military Security Command.[1] The true number might be a lot higher considering that such facilities were to be established at the level of every county.

1. In addition, the MPS operates facilities referred to as labour reform centres (kyoyangso) in provinces and major cities.[1] Perpetrators of crimes of medium severity, including less grave forms of “anti-socialist behaviour”, are often assigned to forced labour in these prisons. The MPS and SSD holding centres (jipkyulso) are also effectively used as places of punishment in the DPRK, although there appears to be no legal basis for that. [2]

Inmates of all three categories of short-term prisons have in common that their punishment resulting in loss of liberty is not based on criminal conviction by a court of law, as would be required by international law. Instead, their guilt and punishment was determined by the MPS or the SSD, which form part of the executive branch of government. Only in a minority of cases, inmates of labour reform centres and labour training camps have gone through a trial, and if they did it so it was the type of grossly unfair judicial trial described above.[3] Therefore, hardly any of the inmates can considered to be duly convicted by a court of law; they are victims of arbitrary detention and illegal forced labour as defined under international law

In 2009, the witness, a young woman from Hyesan (Ryanggang Province), was denounced by her friend, because she had secretly watched movies produced in the ROK. Four MPS officers interrogated her until 3 a.m. in the morning and slapped her face until she admitted to her “crime”. Thereafter, she was detained incommunicado and forced to write a confession statement. After nine days of detention, she was brought before a gathering of police officers. Her “trial” before these police officers consisted of an announcement what crime she committed and that she had to serve six months of imprisonment.

From 1998, a large number of prisoners of Political [should read ordinary] Prison Camp (kyohwaso) No. 12 at Jonggo-ri were secretly executed. The victims were mostly people who had bad songbun and/or had been imprisoned for politically sensitive crimes. Some victims may also have been targeted because they complained about prison conditions or disobeyed orders. According to eyewitness testimony, the victims were taken out of their cell at night and brought one after the other to a room, where prison camp officials and an MPS officer from Pyongyang presented the victim with false accusations. Immediately thereafter, prison guards strangled the victim to death using a metal wire. Work unit leaders from among the prisoners were assigned to remove the bodies and take them to a furnace located a few kilometres away from the main prison block. Such killings occurred at regular intervals, and every time several prisoners were killed.

POWs forced to work in the coal mines were under particularly strict surveillance by the MPS and SSD.[1] Interrogations by these agencies (often involving torture) were commonplace for POWs, and every detail of their lives was known and recorded.[2] Particular effort appears to have been made by the DPRK government to monitor and prevent escape of POWs and Korean War abductees. The Commission also heard testimonies of escape plans that were uncovered or thwarted at the last moment by the SSD as a result of their comprehensive surveillance.

1.State authorities commit considerable resources to enforcing their policy to ensure the arrest, capture and punishment of Christians and others considered to introduce subversive influences. As a matter of standard protocol, anyone repatriated from China is systematically screened to find Christians and other persons who had direct contact with churches and/or ROK citizens. According to the findings of the Commission, the SSD, MPS and KPA Military Security are carrying out a coordinated crackdown on the inflow of foreign movies and have set up joint inspection groups for this purpose, in accordance with orders that apparently emanate from the Supreme Leader himself. On behalf of the National Defence Commission, the highest decision-making body in the state, a proclamation has been issued demanding that the population report to the security forces anyone watching or distributing foreign films and television programmes. Customs authorities systematically search incoming goods to find foreign movies or devices capable of receiving foreign broadcasts. SSD inspection teams use sophisticated technology to detect the use of unauthorized Chinese mobile phones.

2.As a matter of standard protocol, the SSD and MPS systematically detained persons who are caught trying to flee the DPRK, or who are forcibly repatriated, for interrogation purposes, often for several months. During this phase, detainees are generally not brought before a judge in accordance with article 9 (3) of the ICCPR. They also have no opportunity to challenge the lawfulness of their detention in a court, as is required by article 9 (4) of the ICCPR.

3.The detainees who can convince the SSD and MPS interrogators that they left the DPRK to find work or gain support from relatives living in China are punished (usually without trial) with shorter terms of imprisonment. Since they are punished for pursuing the only available way to exercise their right to leave their own country, the punishment occurs without a reason that would be compatible with international law.

4.

The Ministry of People’s Security (MPS) is responsible for internal security, social control, and basic police functions. It also has responsibility to quell riots. The MPS operates police stations in every hamlet/city quarter and larger interrogation detention centres at the city, county, provincial and national level. It is estimated that the Ministry of People’s Security has more than 200,000 full-time personnel.[1] The MPS Prison Bureau administers the ordinary prison camps and short-term labour detention centres, where the Commission finds that gross human rights violations entailing crimes against humanity are being committed. Until 2006, the MPS also administered some of the political prison camps.

The MPS is in charge of further interrogating and then punishing those who illegally flee the DPRK solely in order to find food or work in China. Based on administrative decisions made by MPS agents, such persons are punished in MPS-run labour training camps, where they experience deliberate starvation and other inhumane treatment. The MPS maintains the resident registration file system, which secretly records personal and family information and thereby provides the basis for discrimination anchored to songbun (state-assigned social class). MPS agents are also responsible for enforcing movement and residence restrictions within the DPRK and implementing banishment orders

1.SSD and MPS officials operate under great pressure to produce perpetrators of political wrongs. They are often afraid of becoming the targets of suspicion and punishment, if they appear to be too lenient with suspects. As a result, even those unjustly accused of political wrongs often find it difficult, if not impossible to escape the control of the security apparatus without any punishment. However, interventions by politically connected friends, and increasingly also the payment of bribes, often allow suspects of lesser wrongs to secure their release.

2.The Commission could not establish how much autonomy the MPS enjoys in taking decisions on how to dispose of a case. According to the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), cases handled by the MPS are usually referred to a People’s Safety Committee dominated by the Workers’ Party of Korea, which instructs the MPS how to handle the case. See Kim Soo-am, “The North Korean Penal Code, Criminal Procedures, and their Actual Applications”

Russian, North Korean interior ministries to step up cooperation

BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union [London] 04 June 2005: 1.

Text of report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS

Moscow, 4 June: The Russian and North Korean interior ministries intend to step up their cooperation in a number of operational areas. Today a delegation of the North Korean Ministry of People's Security headed by Minister Ju Sang-song arrived in Moscow.

The Russian Interior Ministry's press centre told ITAR-TASS that on Monday 6 June members of the delegation will meet Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev. "At the meeting the participants will focus on issues relating to the fight against organized crime and illegal drugs," the agency's source noted.

In addition, the Interior Ministry spokesman said, "the sides will discuss one of the most promising areas of cooperation - the training of personnel". "The Russian Interior Ministry has great experience of working in this area and currently tens of employees of CIS and other foreign law-enforcement agencies are training at the Interior Ministry's Moscow university," the agency's source stressed.

The press centre also reported that "following the meeting between the two countries' interior ministries an agreement on cooperation will be signed".

Credit: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1434 4 Jun 05

http://www.kinu.or.kr/eng/pub/pub_02_01.jsp?page=9&num=5&mode=view&field=&text=&order=&dir=&bid=DATA05&ses=

the ministry for policing is Ministry

of People’s Security. The GBR, the MSS, and the Ministry of People’s Security are under

National Defense Commission (NDC),

KINU

http://www.kinu.or.kr/2015/0303/co15-04.pdf