The human rights record of North Korea is often considered to be the worst in the world and has been globally condemned, with the United Nations, the European Union and groups such as Human Rights Watch all critical of it.
North Korea has strict laws about what you can bring into the country. It's illegal to bring in religious, pornographic or political items. Declare all published material and electronic devices when you arrive. It's also illegal to knowingly or unknowingly possess items that breach North Korean law.
Prominent supposedly executed criminals include officials convicted of drug trafficking and embezzlement. Common criminals convicted of crimes such as murder, robbery, rape, drug dealing, smuggling, piracy, vandalism, etc. have also been reported to be executed, mostly by firing squad.
Three-generation punishment
If anyone in North Korea commits a crime, not only he/she will be punished but also his/her parents, grandparents and children will be penalised too.
Seemingly, every aspect of a person's existence in North Korea is monitored. This oversight of citizens has extended beyond wired microphones and wiretapping of fixed-line and mobile phones. Microphones are now even being used outdoors to pick up conversations.
In principle, any person is allowed to travel to North Korea; only South Koreans and journalists are routinely denied, although there have been some exceptions for journalists.
The state department tells US nationals not to enter North Korea “due to the continuing serious risk of arrest and long term detention”. Defections by Americans or South Koreans to North Korea are rare. During the cold war, a small number of US soldiers defected to North Korea.
According to one Korean American scholar who visited North Korea in the early 1980s, the country has no birth control policies; parents are encouraged to have as many as six children. The state provides tagaso (nurseries) to lessen the burden of childrearing for parents and offers a 77-day paid leave after childbirth.
Numerous testimonies of North Korean defectors confirm the practice of kin punishment (연좌제, yeonjwaje literally "association system") in North Korea, under which three generations of a political offender's family can be summarily imprisoned or executed.
Jun 3, 2023 Revision by Markissik. Adding source and correcting description & status. Under the Article 295 of the North Korean Criminal Law, the age of consent is 15 irrespectively of gender of parties.
Alcohol faces no restrictions in the DPRK. There is no legal drinking age- although in general it's frowned upon for students to drink (this includes university students). Top producers like Taedonggang Beer are granted special designation by the state that ensures they receive priority over other factories.
North Korean citizens usually cannot freely travel around the country, let alone travel abroad. Emigration and immigration are strictly controlled.
Internet access is not generally available in North Korea. Only some high-level officials are allowed to access the global internet. In most universities, a small number of strictly monitored computers are provided. Other citizens may get access only to the country's national intranet, called Kwangmyong.
According to multiple resolutions which have been passed by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the North Korean government considers religious activities political crimes, because they could challenge the personality cult of Kim Il Sung and his family.
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Do not travel to North Korea due to the continuing serious risk of arrest and long-term detention of U.S. nationals. Exercise increased caution to North Korea due to the critical threat of wrongful detention.
Can I bring my phone to North Korea and take pictures? You can take pictures, selfies and videos with your phone in North Korea. There are regulations that abide to photography with phones the same as an ordinary camera. Most North Koreans have cell phones now, with cameras that they like to take pictures with!
In modern South Korea, slavery, or more generally referred to as human trafficking, is illegal, although it is estimated that as of 2018 there are about 99,000 slaves (about 0.195% of the population) in existence, according to the Global Slavery Index. In North Korea, slavery is still practiced by the country's regime.
By this benchmark, reclusive and authoritarian North Korea has the highest prevalence of modern slavery (104.6 per 1,000 population), according to the report. It is followed by Eritrea (90.3) and Mauritania (32), which in 1981 became the last country in the world to make hereditary slavery illegal.
They have a close special relationship and China is often considered to be North Korea's closest ally. China and North Korea have a mutual aid and co-operation treaty, signed in 1961, which is currently the only defense treaty either country has with any nation.
From a young age, children are forced into labor, including agricultural labor support, item collections and construction work. Children in prison camps, orphanages, and relief shelters are also subject to arduous labor.
The U.S. Embassy in Seoul strongly encourages all U.S. citizens who have children born in the Republic of South Korea to apply for a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) as soon as possible after the birth of the child. A CRBA is an official record confirming that the child acquired U.S. citizenship at birth.
Under the “Korean age” system, babies are considered to be one year old on the day they are born, and every January 1, a year is added to people's ages – regardless of their actual birthdate. For example, a baby born on New Year's Eve becomes two years old the next day.
If the defectors are caught in China, they are repatriated back to North Korea, where rights groups say they often face harsh interrogations and years of punishment, or even death, in kwalliso prison camps (such as the Pukch'ang camp), or in kyohwaso reeducation camps (such as the Chungsan camp or Chongo-ri camp).
If you reside in a country with diplomatic relations with the DPRK, ask the DPRK embassy in that country for visa advice. If you try to enter North Korea without required travel documents: you may be denied entry, fined, detained, arrested, or imprisoned.
Mexican citizens must obtain a visa before entry into North Korea. Reach North Korea embassy or consulate for the instructions how to apply the visa. Updated: 07/13/2023.