{"id":41883,"date":"2013-08-21T16:20:42","date_gmt":"2013-08-21T13:20:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/?p=41883"},"modified":"2013-08-21T16:20:42","modified_gmt":"2013-08-21T13:20:42","slug":"north-korea-prison-torture-woman-prisoner-forced-to-kill-her-own-baby-breaking-news-41883","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/north-korea-prison-torture-woman-prisoner-forced-to-kill-her-own-baby-breaking-news-41883\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea Prison Torture: Woman Prisoner Forced To Kill Her own Baby \/ Breaking News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"North-Korea-Prison-Torture\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

Horrifying accounts of human rights abuse in North Korea were described by witnesses to UN Commission of Inquiry. They claim to have survived Gulag-style camps, where public executions, even a\u00a0mother in a North Korean prison was forced to kill her own baby.<\/h1>\n

Jee Heon-a, 34, told the UN Commission of Inquiry that a guard ordered the mother to drown her newborn.<\/p>\n

The United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea (DPRK), which was set up this March to investigate\u00a0\u201csystematic, widespread and grave violations of human rights\u201d<\/i>\u00a0in the country, on Tuesday held its panel hearing in Seoul.<\/p>\n

Speaking softly, she took a deep breath before telling a retired Australian judge and other commission panel members: “It was the first time I had seen a newborn baby and I felt happy.<\/p>\n

“But suddenly there were footsteps and a security guard came in and told the mother to turn the baby upside down into a bowl of water,” she said.<\/p>\n

“The mother begged the guard to spare her, but he kept beating her. So the mother, her hands shaking, put the baby face down in the water.<\/p>\n

“The crying stopped and a bubble rose up as it died. A grandmother who had delivered the baby quietly took it out.”<\/p>\n

Ms Jee was one of a number of past prisoners who have been addressing the commission in South Korea’s capital Seoul.<\/p>\n

It is the first time North Korea’s human rights record has been examined by an expert panel.<\/p>\n

\"North-Korea-Torture-Prison-Camps\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The North, now ruled by a third generation of the founding Kim family, denies it abuses human rights.<\/p>\n

It refuses to recognise the commission and has denied access to investigators.<\/p>\n

Harrowing accounts from defectors now living in South Korea told how guards committed torture and brutality.<\/p>\n

Ms Jee added that there was so little to eat in the prison that she, like many of the others, was forced to survive on salted frogs.<\/p>\n

She said: “Everyone’s eyes were sunken. They all looked like animals. Frogs were hung from the buttons of their clothes, put in a plastic bag and their skins peeled off. They ate salted frogs and so did I.”<\/p>\n

Another witness, Shin Dong-hyuk, said he was forced to watch the execution of his mother and his brother who had both attempted to escape.<\/p>\n

He said he was also punished for dropping a sewing machine, adding: “I thought my whole hand was going to be cut off at the wrist, so I felt thankful and grateful that only my finger was cut off.”<\/p>\n

The ex-inmates giving evidence are among a handful to have escaped and fled South Korea, where they have claimed asylum.<\/p>\n

There are estimated to be 150,000-200,000 people in North Korean prison camps and defectors say many inmates are malnourished or worked to death.<\/p>\n

After more than a year and a half ruling North Korea, 30-year-old Kim Jong Un has shown few signs of changing the rigid rule of his father, Kim Jong Il, and grandfather, state founder Kim Il Sung.<\/p>\n

Few experts expect the commission to have an immediate impact but say they hope it will serve to raise awareness of what has been happening in the country.<\/p>\n

Bill Schabas, professor of international law at Middlesex University, said: “There would need to be profound political changes in North Korea to make headway in the field of human rights.”<\/p>\nError, group does not exist! Check your syntax! (ID: 12)<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Horrifying accounts of human rights abuse in North Korea were described by witnesses to UN Commission of Inquiry. They claim to have survived Gulag-style camps, where public executions, even a mother in a North Korean prison was forced to kill her own baby.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":702,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,80,63,1,118,101,14],"tags":[77157,77166,57432,8366,57431,2071,57433,4173,57428,57429,57427,57426,2070,9293,57434,10901,57430],"class_list":["post-41883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asia","category-breaking-news","category-daily","category-general","category-hot","category-politics","category-world","tag-asia","tag-breaking-news","tag-human-right-buse-north-korea","tag-human-rights","tag-mother-forced-kill-her-baby-korean-prison","tag-north-korea","tag-north-korea-gulag-camps","tag-north-korea-human-rights","tag-north-korea-prison","tag-north-korea-prison-torture","tag-north-korea-torture","tag-north-korea-un","tag-south-korea","tag-un","tag-un-commision-of-inquiry","tag-violence","tag-women-forced-kill-her-baby-north-korea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/702"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41883\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}