North Korean scientists and engineers working on developing weapons of mass destruction should be considered victims of human rights violations, not just beneficiaries of the regime’s nuclear ambitions, according to a new report.

Titled “Slaves of the Bomb,” the report by the Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) focuses on how North Korea violates the rights of its nuclear scientists, a demographic generally believed to hold a privileged status in the DPRK.