Han Kim and North Korean Accountability for Torture and Unlawful Killing

• Author: Andrew Wolman
• Pages: 273-274

East Asian Observer

273

X JEAIL 1 (2017)

EAST ASIAN OBSERVER

Han Kim and North Korean Accountability

for Torture and Unlawful Killing

Andrew Wolman

∗

& Andrea Lazarow

∗∗

This note assesses the implications of the D.C. Circuit Court case of Han Kim v.

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, in which the court found the North Korean

state responsible for the torture and unlawful killing of Kim Dong Shik, a South Korean

missionary who was abducted by the North Korean government while in China. In

particular, this note shows how the judgment breaks new ground by holding a state

responsible for torture and unlawful killing based solely on general evidence of that

country’s human rights practices, without additional information about the fate of

the victim himself. This note also discusses this case’s implications for the plaintiffs

themselves, and for other victims of North Korean human rights abuses.

Keywords

Han Kim, North Korea, Accountability, Torture, Unlawful Killing

1. Introduction



Korean regime responsible for its rampant commission of human rights abuses and

crimes against humanity. Human rights activists and legal commentators have most

commonly focused their attention on targeted human rights sanctions, the prospects

     

∗ Professor at the Graduate School of International and Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul,

Korea. A.B.(Princeton), J.D.(NYU), LL.M.(GWU), Ph.D.(Antwerp). ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2820-3566.

He may be contacted at: amw247@yahoo.com/Address: 270 Imun-Dong, Dongdaemun-gu, Globeedorm, #A806,

Seoul 02450 Korea. This article was supported by the 2017 Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Research Fund.

∗∗ Assistant Professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies School of Law.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14330/jeail.2017.10.1.12