North Korea Defectors Testify About Torture, 'Modern-Day Slavery'

Viewing of foreign media could have serious consequences, a former inspector said

By Elizabeth Shim

North Korea severely punished citizens for viewing foreign media, a defector said Monday.

File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI 

SEOUL, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- A North Korean defector who once spied on his fellow citizens testified on Monday that people arrested for watching foreign films would have their fingers broken or their nails pulled out as forms of punishment.

The statement from the defector in his 50s identified only by his surname Kim was given during a press conference held by South Korea-based defector organization North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity, local news service News 1 reported.

Kim, a former university professor, said he began to work as a member of an "anti-socialist inspection group" in South Hamgyong Province, where he "used all means and methods to prevent North Koreans from having contact with the outside world."

Kim said his activities led to the arrest of the propaganda secretary of Hamhung city, who was ultimately responsible for distributing a South Korean television show to three middle school students who were watching the media at home when Kim made an unexpected visit of a house in 2000.

The North Korean official was tortured "every day," and all 10 of his fingers were broken in the course of interrogation, Kim said.

Kim said in July 2002 alone he handled 500 similar cases, and detainees were punished with nail-pulling, starvation or subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques like sleep deprivation using bright lights.

Another defector who was in charge of monitoring women laborers sent overseas described the workers as "modern-day slaves."

The defector, also in his late 50s with the last name Kim, said North Korea began sending women workers to the Czech Republic in 1998 to earn foreign currency for the regime.

The women are under "double, triple surveillance" and are "treated like animals," the defector said.

The money they earn goes to the regime to fund the lavish lifestyle of Kim Jong Un or to build weapons of mass destruction, the defector said.

Women are also exploited by the regime and have been used as prizes for North Korea's nuclear scientists, the South China Morning Post reported Sunday.

Some nuclear scientists described as "monsters" by Lee Ae-ran, a woman defector, were exposed to radiation but were given brides as recompense, according to the report.

Swedish Police Arrest Migrant Suspected of Plotting Terrorist Attack

© Bertil Enevag Ericson / Reuters

Police in Sweden have arrested a man who is accused of preparing terror
attacks on the Swedish capital, a day after Sweden had raised the
terror threat level because of the attacks in Paris.

Iraqi national Mutar Muthanna Majid, 22, was detained late Thursday during a police raid on a center for asylum-seekers in the city of Bolinden, in northeastern Sweden. On Friday he was interrogated by Swedish authorities.

“The arrest took place in a calm manner and an interrogation of the person is planned,” the Swedish Security Service (Sapo) said in a statement on Thursday as cited by The Local. It later reported that Majid was a member of the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terror group, and suspected of having fought in Syria.

Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist said the authorities are hunting for more suspects but did not go into further details.

“We are now in a very intense stage of the investigation and we are still very interested in his activities and people he met with since arriving in Sweden,” said Mark Vadasz, a spokesperson for Sapo, as reported by AFP.

Sweden raises terror threat level
 to second highest citing
 'concrete information'

Majid is said to have arrived in Sweden in September, reported Aftonbladet citing Majid’s neighbors. He allegedly left Iraq for Turkey, then crossed the Aegean Sea and traveled through Greece, Bulgaria and Hungary. He sought asylum in Sweden, and lived in a center for asylum-seekers, in an apartment with four men from Iraq, Syria and Eritrea.

One of Majid’s neighbors describes him as a glum man.

“I did not have much contact with him, he looked glum and never said hello,” he told Aftonbladet.

“I feel terrible, because I escaped from Daesh (another name for IS) in Syria. I really want to thank the police for arresting him,” another neighbor said.

The arrest came just a day after Sweden had its raised terror threat level to second highest based on “concrete data” from the National Center for Terrorist Threat Assessment.

Stefan Löfven, Swedish Prime Minister, praised Swedish police for its efficiency.

“I am impressed by the speed with which it has found and arrested the suspect,” he said in a statement, quoted by The Local.

Now, if you would turn that efficiency into arresting the myriad rapists in your country, then I will be impressed.