northkorea_board > News on ICNK Members > HRNK LAUNCHES PYONGYANG REPUBLIC: NK CAPITAL OF HUMAN RIGHTS DENIAL

WASHINGTON, February 9, 2016—Under the hardline regime of Kim Jong-un, Pyongyang continues to stand as the stronghold of the most centralized and oppressive political system in the world. Perpetuation of ‘Pyongyang Republic’ absolute supremacy will result in “continued human rights abuses on a horrific scale, malnutrition of the general population, and corruption as a way of survival,” according to a 180-page report authored by Robert Collins, released today by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), a nonprofit organization. The report contributes meaningfully to the body of knowledge needed to establish effective sanctions regimes and other measures aimed to address North Korea’s human rights situation and to counter threats to international peace and security posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons, long-range ballistic missiles, and military provocations.

Currently home to about a tenth of North Korea’s 25 million people, built around up to 200,000 members of core elite families, the North Korean capital city continues to stand as the stronghold of the Kim family regime. Collins explains the grave human rights breaches occurring in North Korea for decades as the consequence of the Kim regime’s policy of ‘human rights denial.’ He thoroughly examines the levers of North Korean power, abuse, and oppression by scrutinizing the privileged treatment received by the Pyongyang citadel and many of its residents under three generations of dynastic totalitarian rule.

According to HRNK Board Member Nicholas Eberstadt, Henry Wendt Scholar in Political Economy, American Enterprise Institute, “if we hope to help relieve the oppression that ordinary North Koreans suffer, we need to understand the system that oppresses them. ‘Pyongyang Republic’ is now the indispensable primer for anyone who wants to learn how North Korea is really ruled. Robert Collins’ superb study is a public service—and it will pose a moral challenge to all readers of conscience.”

HRNK Board Member David Maxwell, Associate Director of the Center for Security Studies and the Security Studies Program, Georgetown University, noted: “The Kim family regime is one of the most misunderstood regimes in history. Robert Collins' ‘Pyongyang Republic’ allows analysts, scholars and laymen to understand the regime in ways that no other work has been able to do in the past nearly seven decades. This will be the ‘go-to’ reference for as long as the Kim family regime exists and will make an important contribution to the eventual unification process.”

HRNK Executive Director Greg Scarlatoiu pointed out that “through its unique insight into the functioning of the North Korean regime, ‘Pyongyang Republic’ provides information needed to support future accountability and transitional justice processes addressing human rights violations. If such violations are included in the regime behavior subjected to international sanctions—currently focused only on countering the development and proliferation of nuclear and missile technology—‘Pyongyang Republic’ will become reference material.”

In 2014, a United Nations Commission of Inquiry concluded that grave, systematic, and widespread human rights abuses amounting to “crimes against humanity have been committed” in North Korea, “pursuant to policies established at the highest level of the state.” The tightly closed, nuclear-armed communist regime rejects such accusations, which it regards as part of a U.S.-led effort to overthrow it.

The report launch will be held from 12:30 to 1:30 pm on Tuesday, February 9, at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Twelfth Floor, 1150 Seventeenth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036. Complimentary copies of the report will be provided to all participants. If you plan on attending, send your RSVP to Rosa Park, HRNK Director of Programs: rosapark@hrnk.org. The publication is also available on HRNK’s website: HRNK.ORG.

Robert Collins served for 31 years in various positions with the U.S. military in Korea, finishing his 37 year career with the U.S. Department of the Army as Chief of Strategy, U.S.-ROK Combined Forces Command, in Seoul, Korea. One of the world’s foremost authorities on North Korean society and the functioning of North Korea’s regime, Collins is the author of the seminal 2012 HRNK study “Marked for Life: Songbun, North Korea’s Social Classification System.”

HRNK was founded in 2001 as a nonprofit research organization dedicated to documenting human rights conditions in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), as North Korea is formally known. Visit www.hrnk.org to find out more about HRNK and to download “Pyongyang Republic” along with previous publications.

You may also download the report by accessing the Dropbox link enclosed below:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gki1heclf1js0ls/Collins_PyongyangRepublic_FINAL_WEB.pdf?dl=0

THE REPORT IS EMBARGOED UNTIL 12:01 AM EST TUESDAY, FEB. 9, 2016

For media inquiries contact: Greg Scarlatoiu, executive.director@hrnk.org; 202-499-7973