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Rights group calls for crimes tribunal for Kim Jong-il

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il should be tried in an international tribunal for crimes against humanity in his country's harsh political camps, a human rights activist said yesterday.

Kim "should be tried in some kind of international criminal tribunal," Freedom House deputy executive director Thomas Melia told a news conference as his organization released a new report detailing alleged crimes against humanity in the North.

Melia said a special tribunal could be created outside of the International Criminal Court as in the case of Rwanda, where a genocide occurred in 1994. But he called for proper investigation to determine individual accountability for the alleged crimes in North Korea.

Freedom House is a New York-based private democracy watchdog.

Pyongyang insists it does not violate human rights, but it has long been accused of imposing the death penalty for political reasons, holding thousands in prison camps, torturing border-crossers and severely restricting freedom of expression and religion.

Kim, 65, wields absolute power and crimes against humanity -- murder, kidnap, rape, extermination of individuals in prison camps -- cannot take place without his knowledge or direction, Melia said.

But there are some obstacles in bringing Kim to justice, Freedom House said, such as US 0opposition to participating in the International Criminal Court.

The Rome Statue for the International Criminal Court came into force in 2002, making crimes committed after that date eligible to come under the court's jurisdiction, Freedom House said.

David Hawk, a human rights advocate and author of the report, said it was too early to say whether Kim could be tried in an international tribunal as more evidence is needed to prove crimes were committed after 2002.

He also said an independent prosecutor would have to decide who was responsible for the alleged crimes.

Among the crimes detailed in the report include alleged "enforced disappearance" of people accused of dissent to political prison camps, where they may be subject to beatings, torture and rape.

Participants in the news conference also included a prominent defector, Kang Chol-hwan, who met US President George W. Bush in 2005 to discuss his memoir of growing up in a North Korean prison camp.

"The North's prison camps are the same as Auschwitz," Kang said, referring to the notorious World War II death camp in Poland run by the Nazis.

Kang said that the international community needs to apply strong pressure to force North Korea to improve its dismal human rights condition.
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