A/HRC/25/CRP.1 parents found her after four months and collected her. Other children had been there for a year.458 • Another witness, who worked in the health sector in North Hamgyong Province, described how numerous mothers abandoned or even killed their babies at birth as they could not feed their children. She recalls that around 1997, the number of orphaned and abandoned children was so high that Kim Jong-il issued an order to the families of soldiers and security agents to adopt such children. Those that did were considered heroes.459 (b) Liberty of movement within one’s country 373. In its submission to the Human Rights Committee in December 1999, the DPRK explained that its citizens are free to travel anywhere in the country subject to the “Regulation of Travel”. Article 6 of this regulation requires citizens who want to travel to obtain a traveller’s certificate. It was explained further in the DPRK submission that article 4 states that the “area along the Military Demarcation Line, military base, district of munitions industries and the districts associated with state security are travel restrictive.”460 In response to a related query raised by a Human Rights Committee member, the DPRK elaborated that only people on official business or those visiting relatives were allowed to travel to areas described as “restricted” under article 4. While it was acknowledged that permits were required for travel within the rest of the country, it was claimed that such permits could be obtained without restriction. The permit system was said to be necessary “to guarantee national security and thwart the activities of spies and saboteurs”.461 • One witness informed the Commission that the ordinary citizen is not normally allowed to go to Pyongyang. He had understood that this was a security measure against ROK infiltrators wanting to enter Pyongyang to harm the Supreme Leader. The reason why it is difficult to get approval to go to the areas bordering China is due to concerns of people crossing the border without authorization. He also explained that permission to travel to Pyongyang or the border areas would only be granted in exceptional cases, such as attending a wedding or a funeral of a relative.462 374. According to the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), citizens can use their citizen card as a form of travel document within their respective provinces instead of a travel permit. In applying for a permit to travel to another province, citizens would normally have to wait about two to three days for a permit to be approved for travel to nonrestricted areas and up to two weeks for restricted areas. The permit also provides for the length of travel and generally 10 days are given for a round-trip. Although these permits are to be issued free of charge, the process tends to be delayed if a bribe is not paid.463 375. There are guard posts at every province and county where a travelling citizen would have to produce a travel permit. There are also security agents on trains checking for such permits. If caught without a permit, the traveller could be punished, including by being detained in a holding centre (jipkyulso) or sent to a labour training camp for 10 days.464 The DPRK’s People’s Security Control Act allows the People’s Security Agency to exercise 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 TSH020. TSH051. CCPR/C/PRK/2000/2, para. 76. CCPR/C/SR.1944, para. 35. TAP005. KINU, White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea (2013), pp. 22, 234-239. TAP002, TAP005, TBG024; NKDB, “Prisoners in North Korea Today”, 2012, pp. 29-30. 105