|
North Korea The Judiciary
Under the guidance of the Justice and Security Commission of
the Central People's Committee, the two main components of the
post- 1945 judicial system are the Central Court and Central
Procurator systems. These organizations perform their functions
as "powerful weapons of the proletariat dictatorship, which
execute the judicial policies of the Korean Workers' Party."
North Korea has a three-tiered court system with a Central
Court, Provincial Courts (or Court of the Province), and People's
Courts at the county level. The appeal process is based on the
principle of a single appeal to the next highest court.
The Central Court is the final court of appeal for criminal
and civil cases and has initial jurisdiction for grievous crimes
against the state. According to the 1992 constitution, the
Supreme People's Assembly has the power to elect and recall the
president of the Central Court and to appoint or remove the
president of the Central Procurator's Office (Article 91, items
12-13). The Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly
interprets the laws and ordinances in force and elects and
recalls judges and people's assessors of the Central Court
(Article 101, items 3, 9). The Central Court supervises all lower
courts and the training of judges. It does not exercise the power
of judicial review over the constitutionality of executive or
legislative actions nor does it have an activist role in
protecting the constitutionally guaranteed rights of individuals
against state actions. The Central Court is staffed by a chief
judge or president, two associate chief judges or vice
presidents, and an unknown number of regular judges.
The Central Court also arbitrates matters involving the
nonfulfillment of contracts between state enterprises and cases
involving injuries and compensation demands. These administrative
decisions always reflect party policies.
Below the Central Court are the courts of the provinces and
cities under central authority--courts that serve as the courts
of first and only appeal for decisions made by the People's
Courts. They are staffed in the same manner as the Central Court.
Like the Central Court, provincial courts have initial
jurisdiction for certain serious crimes. In addition, provincial
courts supervise the People's Courts.
The People's Courts are at the lowest level of the judicial
system. They are organized at the county (gun, or
kun) level even though they may have jurisdiction over
more than one county or smaller city. They have initial
jurisdiction for most criminal and civil cases. Unlike the high
courts, they are staffed with a single judge, who is assisted by
two "people's assessors," laymen who are temporarily selected for
the judiciary. An initial trial typically is presided over by one
judge and two people's assessors. If the case is appealed, three
judges preside, and a decision is made by consultation.
The constitution does not require legal education as a
qualification for being elected as a judge or people's assessor.
Over time, however, legal training has received more emphasis,
although political reliability remains the prime criterion for
holding office.
The Central Procurator's Office parallels the court system.
In accordance with Article 162 of the 1992 constitution,
"Investigation and prosecution are conducted by the Central
Procurator's Office, the procurator's offices of the province (or
municipality directly under central authority), city (or
district) and county and special procurator's office." The office
supervises or conducts investigations, arrests, preparation of
indictments, criminal prosecutions, and criminal trial
proceedings. It has the right to initiate court appeals. This
supervisory function over the judiciary includes ensuring that
the court system interprets the law in accordance with the KWP's
wishes. As of July 1992, the procurator general of the Central
Procurator's Office was Han Sang-kyu; there are three deputy
procurators general.
Socialist law-abiding life guidance committees were
established in 1977 in the Central People's Committee and in the
people's committees at the provincial-, city-, and county-levels.
These ad hoc committees meet once a month and are chaired by the
president of the people's committee. The committees are a control
measure for ensuring respect for public authority and conformity
to the dictates of socialist society. The committees are
empowered to implement state power, monitor the observance of law
by state and economic institutions, and prevent the abuse of
power by the leading cadre of these institutions. To this end,
they have oversight of state inspection agencies, the procuracy,
and the police; they also have supervision and control of all
organizations, workplaces, social groups, and citizens in their
jurisdiction. The committees can apply strict legal sanctions to
all violations short of crimes.
Little reliable information is available on specific criminal
justice procedures and practices as of mid-1993. Although North
Korea refuses outside observation of its legal system, it is
clear that the limited guarantees legally in place often are not
followed in practice. There is reliable information of summary
executions in the case of political crimes.
The 1992 constitution guarantees judicial independence and
requires that court proceedings be carried out in accordance with
laws containing elaborate procedural guarantees. Article 157 of
the constitution states that "cases are heard in public, and the
accused is guaranteed the right to a defense; hearings may be
closed to the public as stipulated by law." According to the
United States Department of State's Country Report on Human
Rights Practices for 1990 and a 1988 report by Asia Watch and
the Minnesota Lawyers International Human Rights Committee,
however, practice is another matter. Additionally, according to
the Criminal Code, defense attorneys are not proxies for the
defendant but are charged with ensuring that the accused take
full responsibility for his or her actions.
North Korean law limits incarceration during investigation
and interrogation to a period not to exceed two months. The
period of incarceration, however, can be extended indefinitely
with the approval of the Central Procurator's Office. The
approval apparently is given quite freely. It is not uncommon for
individuals to be detained for a year or longer without trial or
charge. During interrogation, at least through the early 1980s,
there was strong evidence that prisoners were routinely tortured
or ill treated. Habeas corpus or its equivalent is not recognized
in theory or practice. In addition, information about detainees
is restricted, and it is often very difficult, if not impossible,
for concerned family members to obtain any data about someone
being detained.
Party influence is pervasive in both criminal and political
cases. In criminal cases, the government assigns lawyers for the
defense. Defense lawyers are not considered advocates for the
defendant so much as independent parties to help persuade the
accused to admit his guilt, although they apparently present
facts to mitigate punishment. In political cases, trials often
are dispensed with and the Ministry of Public Security refers the
cases directly to the Ministry of State Security for the
imposition of punishment.
The penal code is draconian in nature and apparently does not
accept the principles of modern criminal law that state that
there is no crime unless so specified by law, that law may not be
applied retroactively, and that the law cannot be extended by
analogy. Article 10 of the North Korean Criminal Code states that
"in the case of an offense that does not fall under any expressed
clause of the criminal law, the basis, scope, and punishment for
it shall be determined according to the clause on acts that
resemble it most in terms of its type and danger to society."
The Penal Code adopted in 1987 simplifies the 1974 code
without making substantial changes in the definitions of crimes
or penalties. The entire section entitled Military Crimes,
contained in Part 5 of the previous code, has been deleted. It is
likely that military crimes still are treated as a criminal
category, and are covered by another, separate code.
The 1987 code generally covers fewer types of crimes. Crimes
eliminated from the general heading of treason include armed
incursions, hostile crimes against the socialist state, and
antirevolutionary sabotage. Penalties also have been relaxed. The
number of crimes for which the death penalty can be applied has
been reduced from twenty civil crimes to five offenses in
addition to those offenses covered under the Military Crimes
section. Retained as capital offenses are plots against national
sovereignty (Article 44), terrorism (Article 45), treason against
the Motherland by citizens (Article 47), treason against the
people (Article 52), and murder (Article 141). The death penalty
no longer applies to propaganda and sedition against the
government; espionage; armed intervention and instigating the
severance of foreign relations; antirevolutionary disturbances;
theft of government or public property; violation of railway,
water, or air transportation regulations; mob violence;
unauthorized disclosure of or loss of official secrets; rape; and
robbery of personal property. The maximum sentence has been
reduced from twenty to fifteen years.
In May 1992, the chairman of the criminal law department at
Kim Il Sung University published an address on misinterpretations
of the North Korean Criminal Code. He pointed out that the code
banned death sentences for minors under seventeen years of age
when the crime was committed and for pregnant women. The code has
no penalty of confinement; all noncapital punishment is in the
form of forced labor. The code also stipulates that revisions to
it cannot be applied retroactively to define an act as criminal
that was not so at the time of commission or to raise the maximum
penalty. Reductions of penalties, however, apply retroactively.
The code also redefines several of the provisions related to
contact with South Korea in a manner apparently aimed at drawing
attention to the strict limits of South Korea's National Security
Law on unauthorized North/South contacts.
The definition of the most serious political crimes--reforms
notwithstanding--is ambiguous and includes both
counterrevolutionary crimes and more general political offenses.
Punishment for counterrevolutionary crimes is severe, it involves
capital punishment, loss of property, and even summary execution
for almost any dissident activity. Furthermore, these cases are
often decided without recourse to the appropriate legal
procedures. Most political offenses do not go through the
criminal justice system, but are handled by the State Security
Department. Trials are closed, and there is no provision for
appeal. Punishment is often broadened to include the offender's
immediate and extended family.
Data as of June 1993
|
