The use of forced labor in North Korea, of which they are victims from prisoners to soldiers or citizens abroad, is “deeply institutionalized” in the country and in some cases borders on slavery, a crime against humanity, a United Nations report reveals on Tuesday.

The 84-page document of the UN Office for Human Rights, prepared through interviews conducted in the last decade with 183 North Koreans fleeing the country and now residing in South Korea, offers details about this exploitation in the isolated Kim regime.

“They were forced to work in intolerable conditions, often in dangerous sectors, without salary, free choice, possibility of resignation, protection, medical care, break time, food and accommodation,” summarized the head of human rights of the United Nations, Volker Türk, when presenting the report.

Workers were also subjected to constant surveillance, were beaten frequently, and in the case of women (main testimonies of forced labor in detention centers) they were often victims of sexual violence, the Austrian High Commissioner stressed.

The report identifies different types of forced labor in North Korea, such as taxes in prisons and other detention centers, those who suffer employees whose jobs have been assigned by the State (something very common in the communist regime), or those observed in army soldiers.

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There is also this type of exploitation that violates human rights in citizens sent abroad to send foreign currency to the regime, those summoned to special mobilizations or members of the so-called “shock brigades”, usually in the agriculture and construction sectors.

Some of the crudest testimonies of the report are those offered by more than a hundred women sentenced to forced labor after being forcibly repatriated after crossing the border illegally (usually it is usually the one that separates China and North Korea, although the report does not specify it).

After having fallen into networks of trafficking people that sometimes force them to prostitute themselves or contract forced marriages, they are repatriated and in detention they often suffer sexual and physical violence, sometimes forced abortions and denial of medical and hygienic services.

Detained in prisons, re-education camps and other detention centers, the victims relate the harshness of living and working conditions in agricultural, industrial and other tasks in which they often had to meet daily production quotas and received beatings or were deprived of food if they did not comply with them.

“They sent me to grow corn, cabbage, radishes… there was no machinery, so seven or eight of us pulled a cart that would normally be used with oxen,” says one of these women.

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Another detainee, destined for construction work, said in the report that he was so hungry that he ate weeds and grass, which made him sick, while another, assigned to a group that carried bags of cement, said that they did not have masks, they constantly breathed the dust of the cement and “could barely breathe.”

In the North Korean army, the report adds, soldiers, who in many cases have to perform a military service of ten years or more, are often forced to also work in agriculture or construction, in dangerous conditions and without adequate health and safety measures.

A former nurse interviewed for the report reported that many of the soldiers she treated had symptoms of malnutrition, which in the worst cases degenerated into tuberculosis.

Abroad, North Korean citizens – often with certain social privileges – are forced to donate 90% of their profits to the State, in sectors such as those already mentioned (agriculture, construction) although there are also in the medical profession or in the hospitality industry.

In order to maintain control over these citizens abroad, their passports are confiscated, they are constantly monitored and they usually live in very bad conditions, with hardly any free time or contact with their families in North Korea, the report says.

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In general, the regime controlled by Kim Jong-un, inherited from his father and grandfather, controls and exploits its citizens “through an extensive system of forced labor at various levels” intended for the interests of the State rather than the citizenry, concludes the United Nations study.

A system in which every North Korean, after completing his studies or military service, is assigned to a workplace without choice, or the possibility of forming unions, and where he lives under the threat of being arrested if he does not come to work, although sometimes he does not receive a salary for it.

In view of the conclusions of the report, the United Nations Office for Human Rights calls on North Korea to abolish this forced labor “and put an end to all its forms of slavery.”

He also requests the UN Security Council to direct the case to the International Criminal Court.

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The floods caused by the heavy rains in southern Brazil already leave at least 84 dead and 111 missing, according to the balance released on Monday by the regional authorities.

The rainfall, which is just beginning to diminish in that area of the country after a week without truce, has affected more than 840,000 inhabitants of 345 municipalities, who suffer from the lack of food, medicines and basic services such as electricity and energy.

Data from the local Civil Defense indicate that, of that total, 121,957 people have been forced to leave their homes and move to the enclosures of family and friends, while another 19,368 are housed in shelters improvised by the authorities.

The Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, on the border with Uruguay and Argentina, has been the most hit by the rains, with at least 83 fatalities, while the neighboring state of Santa Catarina recorded one death.

The authorities are also investigating whether four other victims are related to the climate tragedy that plagues the south of the country and that is already considered the worst natural disaster in the history of the region.

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The level of the Guaíba River, whose waters flooded the historic center of Porto Alegre, the regional capital and where 1.3 million inhabitants live, stabilized above five meters, its largest mark.

With a population of 11 million inhabitants, Rio Grande do Sul has a total of 496 municipalities, of which 345 are affected.

At least 1.2 million homes and commercial establishments remain without electricity and 98 municipalities lack telephony and internet services.

Likewise, 61 roads reported total or partial blockages due to the flood of the rivers.

The Government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the whole country have turned to help the victims.

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There are currently more than 14,500 professionals in the region, most of the Armed Forces that have achieved 25,000 air, land and river rescues, with the support of 30 aircraft, 182 boats and 951 vehicles.

Weather forecasts announce new rains in areas already hit by storms due to a new cold front that will cause heavy rainfall.

Live a quiet life, full of peace and for your mental and emotional well-being. Those are the main reasons that motivated Cinthia Gracast, creator of content of Salvadoran nationality, to return to the country after several years living in Chicago, United States.

Gracast has published on his social media platforms the step by step of his move to El Salvador, his country of birth and to which he returns after having recently visited him, at which time, he says, he made the decision to return.

The content creator points out that, during her visit to the country, she witnessed the substantial changes that El Salvador has undergone and that have made it the safest country in America. In addition, he remarked how that atmosphere of peace helped to improve his mental and emotional health, which was quite affected during his stay in Chicago.

“I love the lifestyle of El Salvador. As soon as I went, I just fell in love even more. I feel like that’s how you live and here in the United States you live only to work. It’s a routine that’s ruining you. A routine that has had me in depression, in anxiety. It is something that I have fought with alone,” she says in one of her videos, in which she announced her decision to return to the country.

Gracast commented in that publication that he recently visited the country and was able to witness how El Salvador has changed, moving from an environment full of violence to an environment of peace and security, thanks to the transformations driven by the current government of Nayib Bukele.

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“When I went to El Salvador this time, I swear that I felt a peace, something changed in me. Being there I felt very good, I felt happy, I didn’t feel any anxiety. I feel that my mental health is priceless and I want to be there (in El Salvador) and I’m going to be there. I know it’s going to be a very good change,” he added in that video.

After this publication, the content creator published several videos showing her moving process. Finally, yesterday he published the video of his first day in El Salvador, showing his followers the preparation of a coffee with Salvadoran tradition, inherited from his grandmother, and highlighting the atmosphere of peace that is currently lived in the country.

El Salvador has undergone a positive change in terms of public safety in the last five years and under the presidential leadership of Nayib Bukele, going from being one of the most violent countries in the world to becoming the safest in America.

During Nayib Bukele’s five-year period, El Salvador has recorded 600 days with zero homicides and has seen the average of violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants categorically reduced, thanks to strategies such as the Territorial Control Plan or the emergency regime still in force in El Salvador, which has allowed the capture of more than 79,000 gang members and criminals.

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