North Korea safe from #MeToo?

Participants applaud during a March 8 ceremony in Pyongyang to mark the 108th anniversary of International Women's Day. North Korea claimed international sanctions were "taking a toll on mothers and children," while stating it was making efforts to prevent sex crimes in the workplace. / Korean Central News Agency

By Yi Whan-woo

Many North Korean women are subject to sexual assaults in their workplaces, especially in the military, where superiors exploit their power to rape their female juniors, according to a human rights advocate group.

This means the secretive state is still far from the #MeToo Movement that has affected politics, culture and all other sectors in the South.

The Database Center for North Korean Human Rights said last week that more than 34 percent of 70 North Korean defectors in the South said they had suffered sexual abuse or heard about victims when serving in the North Korean military.

Women make up one-third of the 1.28 million North Korean military personnel. Females who jointly serve with the men in medical, communication and artillery units are vulnerable to sexual assault because the country has low awareness about women's human rights, a source said.

"They have nowhere to seek help officially," the source said. "Even if they do, they get blamed eventually because the perpetrators claim the victims agreed to the sexual relationships. But superiors use their power to cover up their crimes, too."

In 2017, the U.N Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women voiced concerns that North Korean females were "underrepresented or disadvantaged" in education, the judiciary, security and leadership and managerial positions "in all non-traditional areas of work."

The committee also expressed concerns about rape or mistreatment of women in detention, including those repatriated after fleeing abroad.

It claimed domestic violence was prevalent and that there was "very limited awareness" about the issue and a lack of legal services, psycho-social support and shelters for victims.

"Women who were trafficked abroad and then returned to North Korea are reportedly sent to labor training camps or prisons, accused of crossing the border illegally, and may be exposed to further sexual violence by security officials and forced abortions," it said.

The repressive state then told the committee that international nuclear sanctions imposed on its regime were "taking a toll on vulnerable mothers and children," although the country was working to uphold women's rights and gender equality.

According to the committee, the penalties for rape in North Korea are not commensurate with the severity of the crime and often go unpunished.

"The revised legal code reduced the punishment for forcing a woman in a subordinate position to have sexual intercourse from four years to three years," the committee said.

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