North Korean human rights remain virtually non-existent, State Department finds

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The U.S. State Department on Monday released its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, showing human rights abuses at every level of North Korean society.

The report claimed the North Korean government and its power structures have regularly committed over 20 different types of human rights violations, including: "unlawful or arbitrary killings by the government; forced disappearances; torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment and punishment by government authorities; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions, including in political prison camps; arbitrary arrests and detentions; political prisoners and detainees," and many more.

The State Department drafted the white paper based on government intelligence, North Korean state media and first-hand accounts offered by North Korean escapees.

"The law prohibits torture or inhuman treatment, but many sources reported these practices continued. Numerous defector accounts and NGO reports described the use of torture by authorities in detention facilities," the report claimed.

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The report also pulled information and data from white papers published by foreign governments and third-party human rights groups, including the Transitional Justice Working Group, the Korea Institute for National Unification, the War Crimes Committee of the International Bar Association and the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.

"Testimonies also stated executions were carried out for possession of Bibles, circulation of anti regime propaganda material, and superstitious activities," the State Department wrote. "Although KINU noted that public executions appeared less frequent in recent years, the practice continued, including for violations of a 2020 law against distribution of "reactionary" foreign media content."

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North Korea's government has seen the same family run the government since the Korean War. (AP/Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service)

North Korea follows a unique communist ideology with a de facto hereditary monarchy that has been in complete control of the nation since the Korean War.

North Koreans have only known the Kim family as its rulers. 

Dictator Kim Jong Un's father, Kim Jong Il, ruled the country before him, and his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, founded the communist-run state more than seven decades ago.

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"The internal security apparatus includes the Ministries of Social Security and State Security and the Military Security Command. A systematic and intentional overlap of powers and responsibilities exists among these organizations to prevent any potential subordinate consolidation of power and assures that each unit provides a check and balance on the other. Authorities maintain effective control over the security forces," the annual report said of the Kim regime.

Kim Jong Un's first child is a male. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

South Korean intelligence announced this month that it has reason to believe Kim Jong Un's first child is a male.

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If the leader's eldest child is a male, as South Korean intelligence suggests, he would be the most likely candidate to succeed his father – keeping with the male-preference patrilineal history of the dictatorship.