UN Concerned Over Reports of Experiments on Disabled in North Korea 

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities this week reported credible evidence that North Korea has conducted medical experiments on disabled people, performed forced sterilizations, and killed handicapped infants, Agence France-Presse reported. 

The committee said that the experiments were conducted without free and informed consent in pediatric institutions and detention facilities. According to UN officials, medical and scientific testing were conducted on people with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities, the UN added. 

The organization also raised alarms about reports indicating that disabled women were forced to undergo sterilization and abortion, and noted credible reports of infanticide of children with disabilities, including killings carried out in medical facilities with official consent. 

However, Committee member Mara Gabrilli said she and her colleagues had reports of people with disabilities being subjected to clinical trials without consent. Gabrilli said they called on North Korea to immediately criminalize all those experiments, guarantee independent monitoring of institutions, and create systems to deliver justice to the victims. 

The UN said its findings on the reclusive country are based on testimony from individuals who fled the country, from the UN special rapporteur on disability rights who visited in 2017, and other confidential sources. 

Meanwhile, Gabrilli said North Korea did not supply the committee with official data, adding that when concerns were raised, Pyongyang dismissed them as “a lie.” 

According to the committee, North Korea’s constitution does not explicitly ban discrimination against people with disabilities, and the refusal to provide reasonable accommodation was not considered discrimination. 

“At the heart of this issue is a reminder that persons with disabilities are not objects of treatment or experimentation but equal human beings … entitled to bodily integrity, autonomy and respect,” said Gabrilli. 

The UN underlined the persistent stigma and negative societal attitudes toward individuals with disabilities, noting that veterans with physical impairments receive special care while other disabled people are excluded from those same services. 

The committee also voiced concern that people with disabilities who are in detention might be subjected to degrading treatment, such as solitary confinement, if they are perceived as disobedient or not productive enough.