A/75/388 28. The labour system was originally based on the principle that the State provides people with basic needs and people must provide labour in return. Article 25 (3) of the Socialist Constitution indicates that the State provides all working people with every condition for obtaining food, clothing and housing. However, the public distribution system, which provided food rations, collapsed in the 1990s, contributing to a devastating famine. Since the mid-1990s, wages or rations provided in return for State-assigned jobs have been insufficient to fulfil even the basic needs of workers and their families. That has meant that work outside of State jobs, in the informal sector, has become more prevalent over time. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights, in its general comment No. 18 (2005), stated that people who operate in the informal economy “do so for the most part because of the need to survive, rather than as a matter of choice” (para. 10). 29. The Socialist Constitution and national legislation prescribe certain working conditions across the country. However, multiple accounts indicate that working conditions and treatment in State-assigned jobs vary largely; while some factories had no work owing to the lack of electricity and factory inputs, others, such as mining companies, imposed hard labour with long hours under harsh conditions an d without any safety measures or instructions. Even though the State is not paying any or very little remuneration or providing basic necessities for an adequate standard of living, people are still required to report to their assigned workplaces. Article 18 of the Socialist Labour Law stipulates that working people must strictly maintain the labour discipline of socialism and observe the stated working hours; they are not allowed to leave their workplaces freely without fulfilling the required formalities. Absence from State-assigned workplaces for more than a prescribed period is a punishable crime. Article 90 of the Administrative Penalty Law provides for detention, without judicial oversight, of up to three months in a labour training camp (rodongdanryondae) as punishment for absence from work. People pay bribes to senior staff in their workplace to avoid such punishments. Information recently received indicates that COVID-19 measures have led to a tightening of control over workers, resulting in an increase in sentencing to detention in labour training camps. 30. The continuation of the State-assigned employment system is of great concern in relation to the right to work. In recent years, people have increasingly been relying on commercial activities, mainly in markets (jangmadang), to make a living. The Government initiated reforms to legalize and regulate some markets; however, it has not yet recognized or regulated the right to work in non-State jobs. The State has an obligation to take steps, without discriminating, to realize just and favourable conditions of work that ensure fair wages, a decent living for workers and their families, safe and healthy working conditions, equal opportunities for promotion, a reasonable limitation of working hours and the guarantee of periodic holidays with pay. The State-assigned job system may also constitute forced labour according to international human rights standards. People in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are not allowed to choose their work voluntarily, work under the threat of State sanctions, despite receiving only minimal or no remuneration, and are required to report to their workplaces for fear of being sent to a labour training camp. In 2001, during its review of the second periodic report of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Human Rights Committee noted that it harboured serious doubts about the compatibility of the provisions of chapter two of the State’s Labour Law, especially articles 14 and 18, with the prohibition of forced labour contained in article 8 (3) (a) of the Covenant (CCPR/CO/72/PRK, para. 17). The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea must work towards the progressive realization of the right to work by finding alternatives to replace the failed public distribution system and the State assignment of labour. 12/21 20-13513