UN asks N Korea to clarify alleged shoot-on-sight orders – By Kim Tong-Hyung (Associated Press) / Aug 27 2021
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — U.N. human rights investigators have asked North Korea to clarify whether it has ordered troops to shoot on sight any trespassers who cross its northern border in violation of the country’s pandemic closure.
They were referring to a report by a news site focused on North Korea, Daily NK, which published a photo of what it said was a poster describing an August 2020 proclamation prohibiting acts that impede the closure of the northern border, shared mostly with China and a smaller section with Russia.
The poster describes a 1-2 kilometer (0.62-1.24 mile) buffer zone and says any person who makes an unauthorized entry to North Korea “shall be shot unconditionally.” It also says trespassers from other countries found on the North Korean side of the Yulu and Tumen rivers will be “shot without prior warning.”
In an Aug. 23 letter posted on the website of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, the special rapporteurs expressed concern about the alleged order. They also asked North Korea to confirm reports that it made the distribution of South Korean cultural products or sexual content punishable by death under a law adopted last December.
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