European Parliament 2019-2024 TEXTS ADOPTED P9_TA(2022)0123 Human rights situation in North Korea, including the persecution of religious minorities European Parliament resolution of 7 April 2022 on the human rights situation in North Korea, including the persecution of religious minorities (2022/2620(RSP)) The European Parliament, – having regard to its previous resolutions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), – having regard to the statement of 25 March 2022 by the G7 Foreign Ministers and the High Representative of the EU on the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, – having regard to the resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council on 1 April 2022 on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, – having regard to the statement by the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, of 25 March 2022 on the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch, – having regard to the statement by the Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European External Action Service of 11 January 2022 on the launch of missiles by the DPRK, – having regard to the most recent sanctions of 22 March 2021 imposed by the EU for the serious violations of human rights in the DPRK, – having regard to the report of 1 April 2022 of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, – having regard to UN Security Council Resolutions 1718 (2006), 1874 (2009), 2087 (2013), 2094 (2013), 2356 (2017), 2270 (2016), 2371 (2017), 2375 (2017) and 2397 (2017), which explicitly ban nuclear tests by the DPRK, – having regard to the UN General Assembly Resolution of 16 December 2021 on the situation of human rights of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, – having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, – having regard to the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief of 1981, – having regard to the report of 7 February 2014 of the UN Human Rights Council Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, – having regard to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of 1984, – having regard to Rules 144(5) and 132(4) of its Rules of Procedure, A. whereas the DPRK remains one of the most repressive countries in the world; whereas in the DPRK, the state exerts absolute control over every aspect of its citizens’ lives, maintains an absolute monopoly over information, and controls movement inside and outside the country as well as the social lives of its citizens, while maintaining fearful obedience in the population through threats of execution, imprisonment, enforced disappearances and forced hard labour in detention and prison camps; B. whereas the DPRK has an extensive and well-structured security system which closely monitors the lives of nearly every citizen and does not allow any kind of basic freedom in the country; C. whereas the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) investigated ‘the systematic, widespread and grave violations of human rights’ in the DPRK and released a report on 7 February 2014; whereas the CoI concluded in its report that the gravity, scale and nature of Pyongyang’s human rights violations ‘reveal a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world’; D. whereas the human rights situation in the DPRK has not improved since the release of the 2014 CoI report; whereas the extrajudicial killings, torture, sexual violence, slavery and arbitrary detentions perpetrated by DPRK regime, including persecution on the grounds of religious belief, are ongoing and systematic; whereas according its songbun system, religious practitioners belong to the ‘hostile’ class and are considered enemies of the state, deserving ‘discrimination, punishment, isolation, and even execution’; whereas documentation from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) shows that followers of Shamanism and Christianity are especially vulnerable to persecution; E. whereas the regime is systematically targeting religious beliefs and minorities, including Shamanism, Korean Buddhism, Catholicism, Cheondoism and Protestantism; whereas examples of such systematic targeting include the execution of some non-foreign Catholic priests and Protestant le