Goal 5

"Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls"

Gender equality is not only a basic human rights, but also an essential foundation for a sustainable world seeking peace and prosperity. One in five women between the ages of 15 and 49 stated that they had experienced physical violence or sexual violence by close partners within 12 months of the survey date, and 49 countries do not currently have laws to protect women from domestic violence. Child marriages have been on the decline over the past decade, with harmful practices such as a 30% decrease in female genital resection (female circumcision), but more intensive efforts are needed to eradicate these practices.

Providing women and girls with education, health care, quality jobs, and increasing their participation in the political and economic decision-making process will bring overall benefits to the sustainable economy, society, and mankind. Therefore, establishing a new legal system for women's equality in the workplace and eradicating harmful practices against women is very important in ending gender discrimination in many countries around the world.

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The DPRK ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1981 and has since submitted two periodic reports highlighting the government’s efforts to tackle discrimination against women and support gender equality in the DPRK. In its most recent report submitted for 2021 VNR, the DPRK strongly asserted that “The DPRK has achieved gender equality long time ago, thus most of the targets of the global SDGs have been achieved.” Additionally, in its 2016 report, the DPRK frequently refers to the Law on the Protection and Promotion of Women’s Rights which was adopted in 2010. The DPRK has stated that “the law is a reflection and manifestation of the firm commitment of the state not to tolerate any forms of discrimination against women.” In its review with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, DPRK representatives stated that “domestic violence is not a social problem in the DPRK. There are, however, some families that tend to resolve in a violent manner conflicts or problems arising due to differences in lifestyle, management of domestic economy and child upbringing. Most of them, in the end, were resolved amicably with the help of advice and persuasion of neighbours, colleagues and relatives.” 

In the effort to promote shared responsibility within the household and the family, the DPRK government has stated that “child care and medical treatment facilities like nurseries, kindergartens and children’s wards were set up so that working women could be free from worries about their children.” In recent years, the DPRK has also promoted its appointment of women to leadership positions in its state media and also in its state reports submitted to the UN. According to its report submitted to the UN ahead of the third UPR cycle, “as of 2018 23.3% of women on average are served on the people’s committees at all levels.”

According to state media, the DPRK has made efforts to ensure universal access to reproductive health and rights, showcasing that women from all over the country receive “free medical service at the Pyongyang Sanwon, which is well equipped with advanced medical facilities and modern treatment conditions.” In regards to economic resources, property ownership and financial services, the DPRK stated to CEDAW that “Married women share the ownership of family property with their husbands. Women are entitled, without regard to their income, to possess, use and dispose of the family property on the basis of equality with men.”

[Interview by NKDB in 2020 (NKDB Unified Human Rights Database)]

[Interview by NKDB in 2020 (NKDB Unified Human Rights Database)]

[Interview by NKDB in 2020 (NKDB Unified Human Rights Database)]

[Interview by NKDB in 2017 (NKDB Unified Human Rights Database)]

[Interview by NKDB in 2020 (NKDB Unified Human Rights Database)] 

Discrimination between genders is seen from a young age as girls in North Korea learn that they are not equal to boys. Human Rights Watch reported that it is seen everywhere in schools where boys are almost always made leaders and male teachers usually make decisions in schools despite the fact that the majority of teachers in schools are women. Regardless of their academic abilities, girls are expected to learn to become good housewives, and human rights reports have found that students are discriminated against in terms of primary and secondary education because they are female.

According to Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, “there has been little progress in the last decade in raising awareness about violence against women and lack of institutional responses to the problem, including support for women and children suffering from such violence.” Despite the widespread problem of domestic violence, it is treated as a private issue by police, doctors, or heads of People’s Units (Inminban), with no resources or support for victims of domestic violence. In an interview with Human Rights Watch (HRW), a North Korean defector also stated that “she didn’t believe the authorities would care, and added she never heard of any person who had filed any case about violence against women.”

Human trafficking is a severe problem for North Korean women as they cross the border into China looking for work. Though many of the women have left the country voluntarily and are aware of the potential risks facing women in China, the problem still exists as they become victims to local trafficking networks through deception, fraud and occasional abductions. NKDB’s findings show that there are a lack of legal provisions to prevent human trafficking and ensure the protection of the victims. Instead, human trafficking victims, upon their repatriation, became subject to further human rights violations committed systematically by the DPRK’s law enforcement institutions such as the State Security Department, labour training camps, or prisons.

HRW highlighted the violence inflicted on repatriated women in its report, such as an “officer in charge of questioning her in the police pre-trial detention facility (kuryujang) near Musan city in North Hamgyong province touched her body underneath her clothes and penetrated her several times with his fingers.” Despite the widespread violence “there are no protocols for medical treatment and examination of victims of sexual violence to provide therapeutic care or secure medical evidence. They said there are no training programs for medical practitioners on sexual assault and said they never saw a rape victim go to the hospital to receive treatment.”

According to human rights reports, the representation of women in political, economic, and public service is found to be at a low level. In North Korea, more women work in the informal sector, contrary to men who are primarily “involved in international trade and business” in the official sector. As a result, North Korean women still bear the burden of doing both the housework as well as upholding their position as the breadwinner through their economic activities in the informal sector such as the markets and smuggling. While the DPRK government has claimed that there are special measures to strengthen gender equality, human rights reports have found that “the majority of women engaged in private economic activities are unemployed housewives, so they do not receive the existing social security benefits.”

Although the North Korean authorities prepared “ Guidelines on Early Detection and Management of Cervical Cancer and Breast Cancer,” women do not receive substantial benefits. In an interview conducted by Citizens Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, North Korean women answered that they “received little national support from breast cancer to birth control and childbirth.” Additionally, the prevalence of abortions in North Korea caused by the lack of proper contraceptive education remains a serious problem. North Korean women are not guaranteed adequate medical treatment even for their menstruation. According to NKDB’s comprehensive analysis of testimonies related to menstruation-related disorders, ordinary North Korean women are not able to receive adequate medical treatment for menstruation-related disorders.  

While the DPRK government states that men and women are given equal economic rights, human rights reports have found that in North Korea only men are considered to be the ‘head of the household’ and that overall family life is decided and centred around the male head of the household.

Many human rights reports highlight the legal and institutional deficiencies to improve the status of women in North Korea. In the research conducted by Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, a man who used to be a high-ranking Party official, “claimed that no new instructions, or policy promoting women’s rights, were ever issued after 2010...Neither had any interviewee heard of any government policy or order to increase the proportion of women in positions of influence, and no interviewee knew about any institution delegated to monitor the situation of women in institutions, enterprises and organizations.”

Additionally, legal restrictions on domestic violence are weak in North Korea. According to the Human Rights Watch report, the “2010 Law on the Protection and Promotion of Rights of Women bans domestic violence” and instructs municipal People’s Committees, institutions, corporate, associations, and organizations to ‘adequately educate residents and employees against domestic violence.’ This law does not criminalize domestic violence or marital rape, however, and does not provide punishments for perpetrators.” The report also pointed out the weak binding power of the criminal law. The relevant provisions of the Criminal Code specify that only women and girls can be victims of rape but does not explain what elements must be present for an act to constitute ‘rape.’

The Socialist Women’s Union of Korea is the most well-known organisation for women of North Korea. While the North Korean government reports that the Women’s Union operates as a civil society organisation that empowers women, the reality shows that they exist only to reinforce the state. According to the NKDB research, women are still expected to become housewives once married, with membership in the Women’s Union incumbent upon marriage and not maintaining a workplace outside home. In interviews with women who were part of the Women’s Union while in North Korea, the vast majority stated that they received no education regarding the rights of women, rather describing the organisation as another way for the state to elicit forced labour and mandatory education on the state’s ideology.

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