North Korea

(asked on 17th December 2014) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports he has received that North Koreans with dwarfism are subject to segregation and forced sterilisation; and what steps the British Embassy in Pyongyang is taking in its disability programmes in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to raise this issue with their North Korean counterparts.


Answered by
Lord Swire Portrait
Lord Swire
This question was answered on 5th January 2015

Reports that North Koreans with dwarfism are subject to segregation and forced sterilisation have persisted for many years. They are referred to in the UN Commission of Inquiry report (para 327), citing the Korea Institute for National Unification’s 2013 White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea pp. 442-444. This paper, available online, reports conflicting testimony from defectors on this issue, with some reporting those with dwarfism are segregated and/or sterilised, some that they are not, and others that they used to be but are not any longer. It also reports testimony from defectors who saw people with dwarfism in their local communities, in some cases married and with children. The paper notes that it can be difficult to verify testimonies given most do not mention exact dates.

Our engagement with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on disability issues aims to build the capacity of the DPRK to promote and protect disability rights and provide small-scale practical support to those with disabilities. There are many human rights issues that we have raised through this and our wider work, although this is not one of them.

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