A woman who escaped North Korea filed an unprecedented case in the central district of Seoul Court accusing dictator Kim Jong-un and six high officials of her regime of committing sexual violence and torture.
The author identified as Choi Min-Kyung, 53, reports in the action that the crimes took place while she was trapped in one within state detention. It is the first trial of this type opened by a deserter before a South Korean court.
The victim detailed that the abuse occurred in facilities in the province of Hamgyong do Norte, after being repatriated to the force of China in 2008. According to court documents, among crimes committed are forced intimate magazines, physical aggressions that caused permanent hearing damage and torture with extended stress positions for more than 15 hours a day.
To the The GuardianChoi Min-Kyung said that “it has been 13 years since I arrived in South Korea, but I still suffer from severe post-traumatic stress disorder and I depend on medications. The scars in my body are evidence of the human rights situation in North Korea.”
The complaint filed to the Central District Court of Seoul and the South Korean Prosecutor’s Office bet on a conviction of Kim and other high North Korean officials for humanity crimes. In the arguments, the plaintiff argues that “under the principle of state control, the North Korean regime has responsibility for systematic violations committed by its repressive apparatus.”
Seongyeop Lee, an expert at the North Korea Human Rights Center (NKDB), an organization that documents Kim regime abuse, said after the opening of the civil action that the case can establish a significant legal precedent in the South Korean judiciary that, according to him, has poor jurisprudence on crimes against humanity. In addition, the process can encourage other victims to seek justice.
There are already numerous complaints against the Kim Jong-un regime in this regard, including giving details about forced labor centers, where opponents, some Christians, are taken and suffer constant torture.
