Hundreds of North Korean public execution sites identified - survey

FILE PHOTO: A North Korean flag flutters on top of a 160-metre tower in North Korea's propaganda village of Gijungdong, in this picture taken from the Tae Sung freedom village near the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), inside the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, April 24, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea conducts public executions to incite fear among the public, a rights group said on Tuesday in a report pinpointing at least 323 sites used by the government for capital punishment.

The report by the Seoul-based Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG) is the result of four years of research and interviews with more than 600 North Korean defectors living outside the country.