The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, commonly known as North Korea), having been founded on September 9 1948, adopted a nationality law in 1963. It has since been revised in 1995 and 1999. Citizenship in North Korea is a status given to individuals that entails specific rights, duties, privileges, and benefits between the DPRK and the individual. Citizenship can serve as a measure to identify legal status, the recognition of a shared national identity, and also as the source of contestation or conflict.
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The nationality law of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea governs who is a citizen of the DPRK, and how one may gain or lose such citizenship. It was disseminated in 1963 and prescribed citizenship qualifications, citizen rights, and citizen protections. It contains only sixteen articles; however, it covers most of the basic facets that can be found across modern citizenship legislation in other nations.[1] Further, DPRK nationality law incorporates anyone in Korea since the DPRK was founded, which includes varied groups due to annexation by Japan, US, and Soviet Union occupation, and its final surrender to the Allies in 1945. It includes any and every person who was "Korean" who holds to the ideas of Korean nationality. This law, as written, assumes that people registered in North Korea became nationals of North Korea.
Jus sanguinis, or the "right of blood," means determining citizenship through the status of the child's parents. For North Korea, any child born with a North Korean mother and father, regardless of the location of his birth, is given North Korean citizenship. When a child is born within North Korea to one North Korean and one parent of another nationality, the child also becomes a North Korean citizen. However, if a child is born abroad to one North Korean citizen parent and one of mixed nationality, the citizenship is to be determined by the parents.
Jus soli, or the "right of the soil," is better known as birthright citizenship. This type of citizenship or nationality is recognized from an individual being born within the jurisdiction of a given state. In North Korea, birth does not automatically grant citizenship, with the exception being a child born in North Korea with "unknown or stateless parents."
The process of naturalization involves formal proceedings for acquiring citizenship of a country. It is not guaranteed and can involve a wide variety of stipulations. In North Korea, the status of naturalization is unclear. It can only be granted by the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, and further specific requirements are unknown.
Dual citizenship comes into play because there is no common international law regarding citizenship. It allows one individual to hold two passports, or two citizenships, because of varying circumstances including marriage, birth, and adoption. Dual citizenship is not recognized in North Korea, although unofficially, North Koreans who naturalize elsewhere technically become dual citizens because it is so difficult to renounce North Korean citizenship.
The following sections provide the rights and responsibilities as described in the most recent edition of the North Korean constitution. However, due to its isolationist structure, the reality of the North Korean political environment and living standards are largely unknown.
The rights and responsibilities recognized by the North Korean Constitution are based on the collectivist principle of "One for all, all for one."
Citizens have:
- Protection of the DPRK, regardless of residence
- Democratic rights and freedom
- Access to happy material and cultural lives
- Equality
- The right to vote (age 17, except those disenfranchised or insane)
- Freedom of speech, press, assembly, demonstration, and association
- Freedom of political activities of democratic political parties and social organizations
- Freedom of religion
- The right to make appeals and file petitions
- The right to labor, and choice of labor according to wishes and talents
- The right to rest
- The right to receive free medical care and the right to receive material assistance.
- The right to receive education
- Freedom to engage in scientific, literary, and artistic activities
- Freedom of residence and travel
- Special protection for Revolutionary fighters, families of revolutionary and patriotic martyrs, families of servicepersons of the People's Army, and disabled soldiers
- Equal rights of men and women (including guaranteeing maternity leave before and after childbirth, reduced working hours for mothers with many children, and expanded medical network)
- Protection of marriage and family shall be protected by the state
- Protection from being detained or arrested and from their homes cannot be searched without legal grounds
- Protection of those people who defected while struggling for peace and democracy, for national independence and socialism, and for freedom of scientific and cultural activities
Citizens shall:
- Safeguard the political and ideological unity and cohesion of the people
- Value their organization and collective
- Highly demonstrate the trait of dedicating themselves to work for the society and the people
- Abide by the laws of the state and the socialist standards of life and defend their honor and dignity as citizens of the DPRK
- Voluntarily and sincerely participate in labor and strictly observe labor discipline and working hours
- Value and love the property of the state and social cooperative organizations
- Heighten their revolutionary vigilance and struggle by dedicating themselves to the security of the state
- Defend the fatherland as the supreme duty and honor of citizens
Defection is the political act of giving up allegiance to one political entity in exchange for another. In many cases with North Korean citizens, this involves people moving or running away over the South Korean border. The number of North Korean defectors in 2009 alone was 2,900 people, and estimates claim that some 20,000 people have defected since the war ended in 1953. [4] There are many ways North Koreans have been motivated to defect, including worsening economic conditions, more out-of-country news infiltration, and political repression.