A/HRC/25/CRP.1 283. Intergenerational responsibility and collective punishment are core elements of the songbun system. Despite auspicious family origins, songbun can be lowered if a person or his or her relative commits a crime in the DPRK.303 Songbun status appears to be particularly affected by offenses deemed to be of a political nature. • Mr Kang Chol-hwan, a former political prisoner, gave testimony to the Commission’s at the Seoul Public Hearing in these terms: “My grandmother was a member of the Communist Party for a long time, and she was instrumental, actually played a very important role in setting up the North Korean Communist Party in Japan…. My grandfather was doing business, so he was quite rich, so he was able to donate a lot of money to the North Korean government. So my grandmother was quite high up in the government. At that time, my grandmother was the vice chairperson to an organization which was headed by the wife of Kim Il Sung. And my grandfather was very high up in the business network that included department stores. When I was born, I belonged to a very top class and I was born at the centre of Pyongyang, so when I was young, I think I was very happy. And compared to other North Korean residents, I think I was a very happy child. And then in 1977, my grandfather went to work and then he didn’t come back for one month. So we went to his workplace to find out why, and we were told that he went on a business. And then [someone] from the Bowibu, that is the State Security Department of North Korea, came to us and said that our grandfather committed treason to the state as well as the people, that he deserved to die, but that instead of giving him the death penalty, that he was taken somewhere else. Our properties were confiscated. On the 4th of August in 1977, our families were brought into the Yodok political prisoner camp. I was 9 years old. It was [the] 8th of August 1977, that’s when we were taken to the political prison camp.”304 • Another witness interviewed by the Commission, Kim Hye-sook,305 a 51-year old woman, was detained in Camp No. 18 from 1975 until 2001. In October 1970, her entire family was arrested. She only initially escaped arrest because she had been living with her maternal grandmother from the age of 13, but the authorities seized her five years later. Only after her release in 2001 did Ms Kim find out that her family was sent to the camp because her paternal grandfather had moved to the ROK during the Korean War, leaving Ms Kim’s father and grandmother behind.306 Ms Kim found that she could not reintegrate into society and decided to go to China in 2005. 284. Administratively, the Songbun system is based on carefully recorded information on every DPRK citizen and his or her family. The state authorities established a comprehensive resident registration file on every citizen aged 17 and older.307 These files contain biographical information including genealogy and indications of ideological steadfastness and political loyalty, which are ascertained through evaluations of a person’s performance in different circumstances such as acts at work and through the weekly “confession and criticism” sessions.308 Information collected could include skills and talents, ambitions and health status, as well as the enthusiasm with which an individual 303 304 305 306 307 308 See section IV.C. Seoul Public Hearing, 24 August 2013, afternoon (03:06:30). Ms Kim could not participate in the public hearings. The Commission conducted a video-conferencebased interview with her, during which she agreed to have her name published in this report. Also TBG024. TJH004, TJH015. See section IV.A. 79