Original news article : 北 “자녀 위해 이혼 금지” 아동법 채택 (donga)
"Divorce leads to children's unhappiness. Therefore parents must not divorce for the sake of children's development and growth." (DPRK Child's law code 54)
On Sunday, South Korea's Ministry of Unification release some contents of the laws regarding Children's Rights and Women's Rights developed by the government of North Korea.
NK's Children's Law claims to guarantee children's rights and benefits in education, society, and all other fields. It also claims right to life and right to development. It also comprehensively covered human rights, ban on corporal punishment, right to inheritance, ban on human trafficking, child labor, and capital punishment. However, NK's government defined 'a child' as someone up to '16 year old'. (UN considers everyone under 18 as minor)
Women's rights, made primarily to empower the social status of women, strongly pushed for gender equality. This included suffrage, employment rights, right to work, domestic violence laws, and ban on human trafficking.
On paper, these laws seem flawless. Many experts, however, believe that these laws are unrealistic at best; in reality, North Korea is infamously popular for human trafficking, domestic violence, and streets full of homeless children (Kotjebi).
North Korea's selection of these new laws seem to be a political strategy to dodge international blame on human rights violation. One expert from Ministry of Unification said, "it is questionable whether North Korea actually has the capacity enforce these laws and guarantee any of these rights for women and children."
Author's note : It would be really nice if these are the first steps to remedy the human rights violation problem of North Korea. But chances are this is going to be North Korea's political shield to evade questions... (what human rights? we have these laws! etc...)
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