US EditionNorth Korea sharply increased executions during pandemic lockdown, rights group says
The report analyzed 144 cases and found executions and death sentences more than doubled after the border closure, with ideological offenses driving the rise.
- A new report from the Transitional Justice Working Group published Tuesday documents a sharp surge in executions in North Korea following the nation's January 2020 COVID-19 border closure.
- Pyongyang enacted new legislation in 2020 and 2023 to enforce ideological control, a move the report links to the regime's pursuit of a 4th hereditary succession of power.
- Between 2020 and 2024, at least 153 people were executed or sentenced to death, while cases involving foreign culture, religion, and "superstition" jumped by 250 percent.
- More than 70% of these executions were public, with the TJWG mapping 46 sites across North Korea used primarily for shooting deaths.
- The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights noted last year that the overall human rights situation in North Korea has shown no improvement over the past decade.
44 Articles
44 Articles
How watching K-dramas spelled death for North Koreans during Covid-19
When people were told to stay home during the Covid-19 pandemic, watching K-dramas became a solace for fans of South Korea’s best-known export around the world. But for North Koreans, it spelled death. A report released by North Korea-focused human rights organisation Transition Justice Working Group (TJWG) on Tuesday showed that the number of people executed for consuming South Korean cultural content – such as K-dramas, films and K-pop – and r…
North Korea took advantage of the widespread isolation of the pandemic to increase the most extreme form of repression against its citizens: to kill them. The regime significantly increased executions following the closure of its borders imposed in early 2020. This is demonstrated by a report published on Monday by Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG) – Working Group on Transitional Justice, in Spanish–, an NGO based in Seoul, under the tit…
der Standard AT
der Standard DEBetween 2020 and 2025, more than twice as many people were executed than in the previous five years. Many executions were motivated by the consumption of foreign media and political crimes.
North Korea Sharply Increased Executions During Pandemic Lockdown, Rights Group Says
North Korea sharply raised the number of executions it conducted after shutting its borders during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the largest share linked to violations of bans on foreign culture and religion, a Seoul-based civic group said on Monday. A report by the Transitional Justice Working Group documented 60 execution cases in which 148 people were put to death between 2020 and 2024, up from 41 executions over the previous five years.
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