Leaked Documents Expose North Korea’s Shocking Strategy to Silence Defectors on Human Rights

Newly revealed documents show that the North Korean Foreign Ministry issued detailed instructions before and after United Nations discussions on the country’s human rights record. North Korea’s Permanent Missions in Geneva and at the UN were tasked with carrying out these orders, which included directives to isolate defectors socially.

According to a document titled “Policy Guidelines” dated January 2017 and released by the South Korean Ministry of Unification on Tuesday, North Korea directed its officials to prevent the regularization of discussions on North Korea’s human rights issues and to expose the falsehoods of defector testimonies, conducting a public opinion campaign to socially and politically ostracize defectors.

Moreover, the document emphasized spreading the perception that human rights organizations and third parties utilizing defector testimonies would render dialogue with North Korea impossible.

The document, which includes communications between the North Korean Foreign Ministry and its overseas missions from January 2016 to September 2023, was reportedly provided by Ri Il Gyu, a former political counselor at the North Korean Embassy in Cuba, who defected to South Korea last year.

The Ministry of Unification released 12 such documents in full on the same day. The documents reveal that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally directed policies related to human rights discussions, indicating his significant interest in international discourse on North Korean human rights.

A Ministry of Unification official noted, “Kim Jong Un’s remark describing international human rights discussions on North Korea as the ‘primary battlefront’ suggests that he is highly attentive to these discussions in the international community.”