Human Rights Watch

North Korea: Nothing to Celebrate on Leader’s Birthday

2015 Could Bring Justice for Leader With Legacy of Abusive Rule

January 6, 2015

(Seoul) – Birthday celebrations planned on January 8 for North Korea’s dynastic supreme leader Kim Jong-Un contrast sharply with severe human rights violations throughout the country, Human Rights Watch said today. During the three years of his rule, Kim Jong-Un has escalated surveillance and control on borders to prevent North Koreans from fleeing and to stop outside information entering the country. Kim has continued a policy of systematic interrogation and torture of North Koreans caught trying to flee.