Sexual assault so common in North Korea its accepted part of ordinary life, report shows
Sexual abuse, including rape, is so widespread that many of the women interviewed by Human Rights Watch did not understand that coercive sex was unacceptable
Seoul — Sexual abuse by North Korean officials appears to be "endemic", a watchdog group reported on Thursday, as activists complain the isolated country's rights record is being ignored as an international push is made to improve relations. Investigators with US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) interviewed more than 100 North Koreans who had left the country — including more than 50 who left since 2011 — and described unwanted sexual contact and violence as "so common that it has come to be accepted as part of ordinary life". Gathering information in North Korea is notoriously difficult, and HRW acknowledged its survey was too limited to provide a generalised sample. But the testimonies paint a picture of sexual abuse — including rape — that is so widespread that many of the women interviewed did not understand that coercive sex should not be an almost every-day occurrence, said one investigator who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the work. The Nort...
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