Epoch Times:
The world largely remains unaware of the extent of the many human rights violations that North Korean women face. Forced abortions upon women repatriated from China and the demand by guards of bribes from female traders in the form of forced sexual acts or intercourse are some of the many widespread cases of abuse that few recent reports shed light on.
Oh Jung Hee, 40 a textile merchant from Ryanggang province sold clothes in the market stalls in Hyesan city.
“I was a victim many times … On the days they felt like it, market guards or police officials could ask me to follow them to an empty room outside the market, or some other place they’d pick. What can we do? They consider us [sex] toys. We [women] are at the mercy of men. Now, women cannot survive without having men with power near them,” Jung Hee who left the communist Korean nation in 2014 told Human Rights Watch (HRW).
In a report (pdf) titled “You Cry at Night but Don’t Know Why” released in Nov. 2018, HRW reports 54 cases of “Sexual Violence Against Women in North Korea” by women who left the country in 2011.
The report says the perpetrators of sexual violence against women are “high-ranking party officials, prison and detention facility guards and interrogators, police and secret police officials, prosecutors, and soldiers.”
Victims interviewed by HRW shared that they could do nothing when the officials demanded sexual favors, money, or some other favors from them. Most of the cases of abuse go unreported and the North Korean government rarely publishes statistics or reports. read more
Reportedly two of the worst offenders were North Korean Communist Party officials Yu Li Don and Suk Muc Dich.