Kim Jong-Un Will Receive Award for Statesmanship from Indonesian Center

Kyodo via AP Images
Kyodo via AP Images

Kim Jong-un, the dictator of North Korea, will be awarded a prize for global statesmanship by the Indonesian Sukarno Center.

“We will give the award to President Kim Jong-un because he has been consistent in carrying out the ideals of the great leader, Kim Il Sung, which is to fight imperialism. … We give the award to Kim Jong-un for his persistence in fighting neo-colonialism,” Rachmawati Soekarnoputri, the daughter of Indonesia’s founding president, said in the announcement.

In the past, figures such as Mahatma Gandhi were given this award.

Rachmawati is also the honorary Asia-Pacific chairwoman of the communist Korea Reunification Committee, a group that is not recognized outside of Pyongyang.

The state of human rights in North Korea has been consistently criticized by leaders across the globe. In 2013, the United Nations accused the hermit kingdom of “unspeakable atrocities,” such as forcing a mother to drown her own baby.

“What we have seen and heard so far–the specificity, detail and shocking character of the personal testimony–appears without doubt to demand follow-up action by the world community, and accountability on behalf of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Michael Kirby, chair of the committee investigating the communist regime, told the U.N.’s Human Rights Council Tuesday.

In 2014, Human Rights Watch, an international group dedicating to exposing human rights, condemned the country as one of the worst in the world for human rights issues.

The report said:

North Korean refugees living in exile—some of whom fled after Kim Jong-un took power—told Human Rights Watch that people arrested in North Korea are routinely tortured by officials seeking confessions, bribes, and obedience. Common forms of torture include sleep deprivation, beatings with iron rods or sticks, kicking and slapping, and enforced sitting or standing for hours. Guards also sexually abuse female detainees.

“The government practices collective punishment, sending to forced labor camps not only the offender but also their parents, spouse, children, and even grandchildren,” the report also said, adding, “These camps are notorious for horrific living conditions and abuse, including induced starvation, little or no medical care, lack of proper housing and clothes, continuous mistreatment and torture by guards, and executions.”

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