NK border sealing with China worsens human rights situation: report

North Korean soldiers patrol along fences in the border county of Uiju, North Pyognan Province in North Korea on Dec. 22, 2022. (Getty Images)

The tightening of border controls by the Kim Jong-un regime, marked by the construction of multiple layers of fences along the China-North Korea border following the COVID-19 pandemic, has exacerbated the already dire humanitarian and human rights crisis in North Korea, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.

The HRW, an international human rights organization headquartered in New York, on Thursday published a comprehensive 148-page report titled "A Sense of Terror Stronger than a Bullet: The Closing of North Korea 2018-2023."

"After the start of the pandemic in 2020, the North Korean government sealed the country’s borders by constructing new and expanded fences and guard posts and strictly enforcing rules," the report read.

In its report, HRW stated that it conducted an in-depth analysis of six areas along North Korea’s northern border based on their economic importance, population concentration and their association with formal and informal trade.

The six areas were Sinuiju-si in North Pyongan Province, Chunggang-gun in Chagang Province, Hyesan-si and Taehongdan-gun in Ryanggang Province, Hoeryong-si in North Hamgyong Province and Sonbong-guyok in Rason Special City.

A map of the six border control areas along North Korea's northern border, analyzed by Human Rights Watch (HRW)

"Satellite images starkly reveal the increased security enforcement on the North Korean side of its northern border after early 2020," HRW said.

"An in-depth analysis of six selected border areas, totaling 321 kilometers, shows that North Korean authorities fenced off almost all the analyzed areas by 2022 or 2023, with almost 500 kilometers of new fences."

In 2019, border fences spanned a 230-kilometer border.

HRW reported that in most border control areas that it analyzed, there were “two, and in one small part three” layers of fences, including upgraded primary fences, new or improved guard control paths, new garrisons, watchtowers and guard posts.

HRW added that it found a “20-fold increase” in security facilities since 2019. A total of 6,820 facilities have been strategically positioned adjacent to newly constructed or enhanced fences, averaging one facility every 110 meters.

"The government’s expanded internal security at its northern border has made almost all unsanctioned domestic and international travel impossible, whether to conduct informal commercial activities or to escape the country," HRW said.

"Since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, North Korea’s government has largely sealed its border with China and imposed overbroad, excessive, and unnecessary quarantines and restrictions on freedom of movement and trade, which have worsened the country’s already grave humanitarian and human rights situation."

HRW also reported that as of January 2024, guards were still under a shoot-on-sight order for any individual or wild animal nearing the northern border.

HRW criticized, through its report, the North Korean authorities’ strengthened security measures that have increased the level of isolation for North Koreans and urged the UN Security Council to review the sanctions currently placed in North Korea.

“North Koreans have lived in deprivation and isolation for decades,” said Lina Yoon, senior Korea researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The UN Security Council and concerned governments should press Kim Jong-un to end the country’s systematic human rights abuses and begin a dialogue to reopen the country to the outside world.”

The report was crafted from interviews and research conducted between January 2015 and September 2023 as well as analyses of satellite imagery.

By Lee Jung-joo(lee.jungjoo@heraldcorp.com)