A/HRC/25/CRP.1 own image until the end of the traditional mourning period of three years following his father’s death. It has been widely reported how every DPRK citizen must wear a badge or lapel pin with Kim Il-sung’s portrait as a sign of loyalty.164 Everyone is also expected to bow to these portraits and to always make sure that they are kept in pristine condition.165 192. As the following accounts illustrate, any damage to or destruction of the images of the leaders is considered a political crime subject to the harshest of punishments. • One witness described how his father had unintentionally soiled an image of Kim Jong-il printed in a used newspaper which he had used to mop up spilt drink and was consequently sent to a political prison camp (kwanliso). The rest of the family was spared this fate, but was rendered as a family with hostile songbun and thus suffered decades of harsh official discrimination.166 • According to one witness, a staff member of a hospital in North Hamgyong Province was investigated by the State Security Department (SSD) for one month after accidently breaking the glass on a portrait of Kim Il-sung whilst carrying out the mandatory weekly cleaning of it.167 193. In July 2012, KCNA published the supposed testimony of a man who was allegedly involved on behalf of the ROK and the USA in what the authorities described as “terrorist activities” designed to destroy Kim family statues and monuments. The article implied that the man would be executed.168 Other sources verified that he was indeed executed for his alleged actions.169 194. Propaganda permeates every aspect of the lives of citizens of the DPRK. Apart from the state-controlled media, they are also exposed to inescapable propaganda broadcasts in their homes and in public spaces. A foreigner who had visited DPRK recounted to the Commission how she was struck by the pervasiveness of loudspeaker systems broadcasting state propaganda in public.170 In addition to the controlled television and radio broadcasting (see below), DPRK nationals receive information from the state through “fixed line” broadcasting. The fixed line system operates through the use of speakers in every DPRK household. These speakers are inspected regularly by officials to ensure they are still functioning. These fixed lines are often used for broadcasting “forbidden” news and information (i.e. news that the outside world is not supposed to know) and also for emergency situations. Information that is transmitted through the fixed lines includes conditions of factories and farmlands, and how each collective farming effort has performed in output and production. Details regarding criminals, the crimes they have committed and the punishments imposed are also transmitted through the fixed lines. The 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 See for example: “The day Kim Il-sung died his first death”, Asia Times, 25 September 2013. Available from http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/KOR-01-250913.html; Barbara Demick, Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea (New York, Spiegel & Grau, 2009), p. 46. TAP009; In May 2007, there were apparently instructions issued by the Organization Bureau of the Central Party on “Overall Inspections on How to Carry out Respect for the Portraits of Great Leader and Beloved General”, KINU, White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea (2013), p. 282. TBG005. TSH051. See http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2012/201207/news19/20120719-08ee.html. TLC004 noting, however, that real reason for the arrest and execution of the man had been his involvement in the politically sensitive smuggling of cameras and radios into the country. See also section IV.E. Submission to the Commission: Confidential source. 53