TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR
DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT
The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment defines
torture as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on
a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing
him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating
or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain
or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or
other person acting in an official capacity.��7
We documented multiple instances of torture and other
cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment being perpetrated by
North Korean pre-trial investigation officers and correctional
officers against persons suspected of religious adherence.
Such treatment included physical beating; positional
torture; deprivation of food, water, and sleep; verbal abuse;
contaminated and polluted food; body cavity searches and
forced nudity; the use of open toilets; hanging torture (also
known as ‘Pigeon Torture’); and exposure to extreme violence
inflicted upon fellow prisoners.
These acts were committed for the purposes of obtaining
information or a confession, for the purpose of punishment,
or for the purpose of intimidation during the interrogation
phase of detention. Several respondents stated that the
torture stopped after they offered a written confession. The
primary locations for documented cases of torture and other
cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment were penal facilities,
including waiting rooms, holding centers, and pre-trial
detention centers.
The documented frequency of the use of torture and other
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by multiple public
officials in multiple penal facilities suggests that the infliction
of severe physical and mental pain or suffering upon prisoners
is present across state organizations and penal facilities.
Positional torture was widely used against religious or belief
adherents during their detention. This form of torture forces
a victim to remain in a fixed position for an extended period
of time that varies from minutes to hours. Positional torture
targets tendons, joints, and muscles and can lead to severe
7
muscular pain, the pooling of blood and tissue swelling, and
the formation of blood clots.
Lee Ki Je experienced positional torture at a penal facility
in Hyesan City, Ryanggang Province. He explained: “We
were forced to get up at 05:00 and required to sit in a fixed
lotus posture. After sitting like that since 05:30, we were fed
at 07:00. After breakfast at 07:00, we would sit [in a fixed
position] until 11:00. We were given a 30-minute break […]
After that, we were forced to sit in a fixed posture from
12:00 to 18:00. Dinner was at 18:00, and we were back to
sitting from 18:30 to 22:00. The correctional officers, however,
take liberties and do not let prisoners go to sleep if the
inmates cross them, even slightly. They will not let you sleep
until 00:00 or 01:00 in that case. That is the everyday routine
within the cells.”
Another case of positional torture was experienced by Kim
Jin Pyeong, who recalled: “There were about five people in
each cell, and they would beat us brutally if we talked the
wrong way. The correctional officers could not beat us too
hard, but they beat us if they could get their hands on us for
talking or fidgeting while sitting […] I did not see them use
batons. They just beat us with their hands. They would grab
our hair [from the other side of the cell door] and slam our
heads against the cell bars by pulling our hair.”
Ministry of State Security officials subjected Hong Na Young
to positional torture. According to Hong, “[Ministry of State
Security interrogation officers] make the prisoners sit around
all day, and they start the interrogations from 21:00, when it
is necessary. When you lie down to sleep after roll call, they
open the door and take you out of the cell. The sound of
United Nations. “Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.” Accessed July 22, 2021.
https://treaties.un.org/doc/Treaties/1987/06/19870626%2002-38%20AM/Ch_IV_9p.pdf
Organized Persecution: Documenting Religious Freedom Violations in North Korea
23