The North dramatically increased executions during the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly for consuming South Korean dramas, K-pop and other foreign culture and political offences, according to a new report.
Pyongyang closed its borders in January 2020 to stop the spread of the coronavirus, with research and media reports indicating that the diplomatically-isolated nation spent subsequent years bolstering security along its frontiers.
Campaigners have said the shutdown worsened longstanding human rights abuses in North Korea, whose government is widely seen as repressive.
The report by the Transitional Justice Working Group, an advocacy NGO, found the number of executions and death sentencings more than doubled in the five years after the border closure, compared to the same period before it. The number of condemned people also more than tripled, according to the findings.
The group drew data from hundreds of North Korean escapees and several media outlets that maintain networks of sources inside the secretive nation, where there is no independent media and little international presence.
Since the pandemic, authorities have ramped up the use of capital punishment for offences such as consuming South Korean movies, dramas and music, it said.
Death penalty cases related to foreign culture, religion and “superstition” jumped by 250% after the border closure.
The report said another major spike in executions for political crimes, such as criticising leader Kim Jong-un, may suggest the government is “responding to growing internal dissatisfaction or intensifying state violence to suppress political discontent”. — AFP
