Mapping killings under Kim Jong-un

책 소개

December 2021 marks 10 years of Kim Jong-un’s rule in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK/North Korea), and nearly 8 years since the United Nation Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the DPRK (UN COI) released its landmark report urging actions for accountability. The Transitional Justice Working Group’s (TJWG) Mapping Project documents human rights violations to support a stronger push for accountability as part of conceptualizing transitional justice for North Korea. This project tests the hypothesis that stronger documentation and international advocacy cannot be ignored by the North Korean leadership, and leads to changes on the ground. This report examines whether these changes can be detected in a decade where both international scrutiny of North Korea’s human rights record increased, and Kim Jong-un consolidated power.The report presents findings from 6 years of research to document and map three types of locations connected to human rights violations in North Korea: 1. state-sanctioned killing sites; 2. sites where the dead are disposed of by the state (i.e., graves); and 3. official locations which may house documents or other evidence related to these events. The project uses satellite imagery and interviews with North Korean escapees to geolocate sites, and applies Geographical Information System (GIS) technology throughout the research process, from data-gathering to analysis. Geographical mapping of sites connected to human rights abuses provides important information about patterns of killings and burials that are often not visible in interviewee testimonies.This is the third report from the TJWG Mapping Project. With an emphasis on the Kim Jong-un era, it serves as an update to the second mapping report, published in 2019, but presents new data and an in-depth analysis of Hyesan, Ryanggang province in the northeast of the country.Escapee testimonies indicate that state-sanctioned killings continue under Kim Jong-un. Spatial data analysis of Hyesan points toward a state strategy of selecting locations where it is easier to control assembled crowds, away from the border and residential areas, to carry out state-sanctioned killings. Interviewees reported that assembled audiences at public killing events are strictly monitored and controlled by state officials to prevent information on public executions from leaking outside the country. We also received multiple testimonies regarding the use of pardons to propagandize the benevolence of Kim Jong-un’s leadership.Next steps for the Mapping Project will include collecting data on secret, or indoor killings, and conducting a chain of command study, to understand which individuals and state agencies are responsible for killings. Both directions will support our ongoing research collecting escapee testimonies and locating points of interest to the push for accountability.

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