SEOUL, March 17 (Yonhap) -- Women in the military are no exception when it comes to sexual violence that is rampant in North Korea, which claims it runs one of the world's finest armies, a human rights group said Thursday.
It remains unknown how many women serve in the 1.2 million-strong North Korean military, but joining the armed forces is considered an honor even for women in the communist country that upholds the military-first, or songun, policy, according to Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR).
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the North Korean Human Rights (NKHR) released the report on sexual violence on North Korean women at a forum jointly sponsored by the British and Dutch embassies in South Korea. (NKHR) |
"In reality, however, military service is not as glorious as it appears from the outside," the South Korean group said in a report released at a forum in Seoul, citing testimonies from 25 North Korean defectors, including 20 females, it interviewed last year.
Raising concerns over widespread cases of rape against women in all sectors of North Korea, including schools and workplaces, NKHR said the government continues to evade responsibility for sexual crimes in the military despite its huge attention to defense.
"Violence against women is ... especially notorious within the construction unit. When a woman enters the construction unit, people say it's impossible for her to protect herself from the sexual, physical and verbal abuse because the construction unit has no strict regulations against crimes," it said.
"In the military, all men go after pretty girls," NHKR quoted Kim Young-ok (alias), a female defector, as saying. "When girls get raped, they can't report it anywhere."
Kim went on to speak of a case in which a unit commander over 60 years old apparently forced a 20-something female soldier into routinely sleeping with him.
"When a girl is sent to the construction unit, the girl's body is considered to be a piece of trash," another female defector, Park Kumbong, was quoted as saying in the report.
Joana Hosaniak, an NHKR member who spoke at the forum, said women have little knowledge of means to rely on to defend themselves against such violence.
"The military is a way to climb up the social ladder" in North Korea, she said, suggesting women also have a tendency to hide cases of sexual violence against them because they fear being discharged from the dominantly male military organization.
Another reason, she said, is that women fear being stripped of opportunities to get married if acts of sexual violence against them are publicized.
"In general, the prevalent perception in the society is that a woman has to be a virgin in order to marry," she said.
North Korea is one of the worst human rights violators in the world. Its treatment of women is also the subject of harsh criticism as the country staunchly holds on to a set of traditional values that consider women naturally lower than men in social rankings.
It was apparent that the social positions of families that female soldiers came from mattered in their military life. One defector who came to the South in 2003 was quoted by NHKR as saying that the parents of such female soldiers routinely called unit commanders to take care of their children.
NHKR, which was set up in 1996, released its report, "The Battered Wheel of the Revolution," at a forum jointly sponsored by the British and Dutch embassies in South Korea.
<한글 기사>
"北여성 폭력에 무방비…신고해도 웃어넘겨"
北인권단체 "성희롱 당해도 행실 문제삼아"
북한 여성들이 가정과 학교, 직장 등에서 폭력에 시달리지만 이들을 구제할 수 있는 보호장치가 없는 것으로 알려졌다.
사단법인 북한인권시민연합은 17일 오후 서울 주한 영국대사관에서 발표한 `부서진 혁명의 한쪽 수레바퀴'라는 보고서를 통해 "국가 경제에 기여하기 위한 노동을 강요받는 북한 여성들은 북한 사회에 깊이 뿌리박힌 가부장제에도 시달린다. 가정폭 력은 범죄로 인식되지 않는다"며 이같이 밝혔다.
이 보고서는 2000년∼2009년 탈북해 한국에 정착한 여성 20명과 남성 5명을 대면 인터뷰를 토대로 북한여성에 대한 폭력실태를 담았다.
함경남도 함주에 거주하다 2007년 탈북한 강민철(34)씨는 "아내가 남편한테 맞아서 보안서(경찰)에 신고하면 '네가 맞은 구실을 만들었으니 맞는 거지 남편이 정신병자가 아닌 이상 맞을 일을 안 했는데 때리지 않는다'고 말할 것"이라며 "가정 폭력 피해자 중 1만 명이 있다면 한 명이 신고를 할까 말까 한다. 신고하면 보안원 대부분은 웃고 넘긴다"고 증언했다.
보고서는 또 "직장에서도 남성이 여성에게 폭언과 욕설, 성적 농담을 일삼는 것이 용인되고 무슨 일이 생겨도 '여자가 행실이 나쁘기 때문'이라고 한다"며 "북한에서 여성에 대한 성희롱ㆍ폭력은 경미한 죄"라고 설명했다.
북한인권시민연합은 이날 주한 영국대사관, 주한 네덜란드대사관과 공동 주최한 보고서 발표회에서 이 보고서 외에도 북한이탈주민의 남한 정착실태에 관한 보고서인 '돌아온 혈육인가, 이땅의 이방인인가'를 국문과 영문으로 발표했다.
탈북자 정착에 관한 영문 보고서가 발표되기는 처음이다.
이 보고서는 "한국에 정착한 탈북자들은 문화 및 언어와 관련해 어려움을 겪고 있으며 직장에서는 북한 출신이라는 이유로 차별을 받을까 자신의 정체성을 감추기도 한다"며 "명절이나 생일에 주변에 아무도 없다는 고립감을 느끼기도 한다"고 지적했다.
보고서는 "12주간의 하나원 교육과 정부, NGO(비정부기구) 활동만으로는 한계가 있다"며 "학교를 포함한 지역 사회가 나서 남북주민이 함께 어우러질 수 있는 프로그램을 진행하면 효과적일 것"이라고 제언했다.
(연합뉴스)
