A/75/388 the leadership of Chairman Kim Jong Un, oversees and controls all political processes and State bodies to pursue its goals. The Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the highest body of the Worker’s Party, decides on economic policy objectives, based on which the State Planning Commission determines the number of people required in each economic sector, 19 including new recruits to the military and the shock brigades (dolgyeokdae). The Workers’ Party is also able to exert its power through basic social units such as farms, factories, schools and villages. 22. The State-controlled labour system applies to all citizens from the age of 17, the age at which students graduate from high school. Article 4 of the Socialist Labour Law states that under socialism, every citizen is duty bound to participate in labour, and that all able-bodied citizens take part in social labour according to their abilities. Both the Socialist Constitution and the Socialist Labour Law stipulate that the minimum age for labour is 16 years of age. According to the account of a woman who recently left the country, on turning 17 years old, one is considered an adult and issued with a national card. In 2018, the enrolment rate in higher education was only 18.18 per cent for women and 35.45 per cent for men, which indicated that the majority of the population at the age of 17 (81.82 per cent of women and 64.55 per cent of men) were required to attend mandatory military service, shock brigades ( dolgyeokdae) or State-assigned jobs. 23. The system of State-assigned labour appears to violate the right to work, as guaranteed under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has been a party since 1981. According to article 6 of the Covenant, the right to work includes “the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts”. Also, some forms of labour practised in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea may amount to forced labour, which is prohibited under article 8 (3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the State has also been a party since 1981. 20 The Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which the State has been a party since 1990, defines a child as anyone below the age of 18 years and expressly recognizes the need to protect children and young people against all forms of economic exploitation and hazardous work. The different forms of labour and mandatory military service in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are examined below. 1. Mandatory military service 24. The Military Service Act, enacted in December 2003, created a national military service system that obliges the entire population to perform military service in regular or reserve forces or the civilian forces. There is no fixed term for mandatory military service in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The Military Service Act allows the Government to determine the term based on the military’s demands; the Government can also determine the conditions of service and the roles of the personnel. 21 In 2020, the initial term appears to have been set at 13 years for men and 8 years for women. It is common for soldiers to be sent home prior to completing their mandatory service because of malnutrition. Owing to shortages of military __________________ 19 20 21 10/21 Korea Institute for National Unification, White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea 2019 (Seoul, September 2019), p. 299. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is not a Member of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Article 2 of the ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) defines forced labour as “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily”. Asia Press, “＜Inside N. Korea＞ a look at Korean People’s Army recruitment through secretly obtained documents (part 1): 13 years of stolen youth”, Rimjin-Gang (Osaka), 13 July 2020. Available at www.asiapress.org/rimjin-gang/2020/07/military/military-service/. 20-13513