‘Blood Minerals’ from North Korea

18.3.2014

Question for written answer E-003142-14
to the Commission
Rule 117
Fiona Hall (ALDE)

A recent UN Commission of Inquiry into human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, published on 7 February 2014, made a number of very worrying observations regarding human rights abuses and the use of political prisoners for hazardous slave labour in North Korean mines. It is noted for example in paragraphs 775 and 776 of the report’s detailed findings that the production facilities in political prison camps ‘are administered to generate a maximum of economic output at minimal cost, without proper regard for the well-being and survival of the inmates. All inmates are subjected to forced labour […] The assignments most feared by inmates are in the mines and logging sites that are located on the premises of some of the camps. There, inmates have to toil with only basic tools in particularly dangerous conditions. Deadly work accidents frequently occur as a result of a combination of the prisoners’ dire physical condition and the lack of safety measures’. Paragraph 1033 of the report subsequently concludes that the North Korean authorities are committing crimes against humanity in these political prison camps.

In light of these very serious allegations, what action is the Commission taking to address them?

Would the Commission consider a prohibition of the import of North Korean natural mineral resources into the EU in order to alleviate the suffering of political prisoners?

OJ C 335, 25/09/2014