Choi Min-Kyeong, the first North Korean deserter to submit a criminal complaint against Kim Jong-un, expects the lawsuit to help improve human rights in North Korea.
Choi Min-Kyeong, the first North Korean deserter to submit a criminal complaint against Kim Jong-un, said he hoped his lawsuit will help improve human rights in North Korea.
In an interview with journalist Ruy A. Valdês, from the Spanish news agency Efe, released on Tuesday, accused the North Korean leader of crimes against humanity committed in detention centers.
Last July, also president of the North Korean detention victims Association in court and a civil prosecutor of 50 million won (31,000 euros) and a criminal complaint for torture, abuse and other abuse suffered in detention centers after being the target of four forced repatriations of China between 1997 and 2008.
“We must demand responsibilities for crimes against humanity committed by the three generations of the hereditary regime of North Korea,” he said during the interview conducted in Seoul, which he maintained that, in a system where the leader concentrates all political and military power, human rights violations “are not isolated excesses, but the result of policies imposed from the top.”
Therefore, it considers that the ultimate responsibility for the abuses committed in the detention centers fall directly on Kim Jong-un. After each repatriation, it was arrested in different detention centers and “reeducation”, under conditions that describe as inhuman: overcrowded cells, forced work, physical punishment and absence of medical care in unhealthy environment.
Choi said he was submitted and witnessing invasive body inspections and sexual and physical violence, witnessing deaths from exhaustion or malnutrition in detention centers and that many of the survivors have been in physical and mental disabilities due to trauma.
“As a victim of torture, I still take medicines [antidepressivos] To this day, “he said.
Given that previous civil actions filed by deserters ended without compensation from Pyongyang, it will be difficult to obtain a response from the regime to Choi’s action. However, the case intends to create jurisprudence and can have effects beyond the symbolic plan.
Choi argued that the process could pave the way to freeze North Korean goods abroad. In 2018, US family Otto Warmbier, killed after being detained between 2016 and 2017 in Pyongyang, achieved this goal.
Therefore, Choi’s legal team, which includes the first deserter lawyer in South Korea, asked the notification to be sent to the North Korean mission to the UN in New York.
The objective is that a sentence in Seoul will serve as support from the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the UN Human Rights Council. Choi’s organization has already gathered testimonies of 30 victims to reinforce the accusation.
The deserter expressed discontent with the inter-Korean approximation policies promoted by the new South Korean president, Lee Jae-Myung, and criticized the recent dismantling of propaganda altifalands in border zones and the suspension of radio and television emissions to the north.
“It is an unconstitutional act that covers the ears of the North Korean population and blocks the way for reunification,” he said, also criticizing Seoul’s passivity before Beijing, which, according to her, welcomes about 60,000 North Koreans-over 100,000 if children born in China are included.
China has been accused by several international organizations and deserters of repacting to North Korean force, knowing the abuses they will suffer in the country of origin, violating the principle of non-devolution.
Choi, who is preparing the publication, in French and English, of his autobiographical book “North Korea Escape”, released in 2024 in Korean, argued that South Korea should press China with measures such as the restriction of visas for Chinese citizens if the deportations continue.
The deserter praised the growing pressure of the European Union (EU) over the North Korean regime in the area of human rights, but denounced that the sending of North Korean soldiers to support threatens European security.
Choi considers that this context represents “a conducive moment” for his lawsuit, which is not only intended to hold Kim Jong-un responsibly for systematic violations committed in the detention centers, but also for supporting the Russian invasion through the sending of troops and ammunition.
