The North Korean government is increasingly imposing the death penalty, including for citizens caught watching or sharing foreign films and television dramas, according to a new United Nations report.
The report, cited by the BBC, found that the secretive dictatorship is also forcing more people into labour while further restricting freedoms. Over the past decade, the state has tightened control over “all aspects of citizens’ lives,” the UN Human Rights Office said, adding that surveillance has become “more pervasive” due to technological advances.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned that if current trends continue, North Koreans “will be subjected to more of the suffering, brutal repression and fear that they have endured for so long.”
Based on more than 300 interviews with defectors over the past ten years, the report revealed an increase in executions. Since 2015, at least six new laws have expanded the use of capital punishment, including for sharing foreign media content. Escapees reported that public executions by firing squad have been used to instill fear, with some held for possessing South Korean films or dramas.
Kang Gyuri, who fled North Korea in 2023, told the BBC that three of her friends were executed for South Korean media. She described witnessing the trial of a 23-year-old friend, who was sentenced to death alongside drug offenders, as the government now treats both crimes equally.
Living conditions have worsened under Kim Jong Un, especially after 2019 when diplomacy with the West ended and nuclear weapons development became a priority. Most escapees said they lacked food, with three meals a day considered a “luxury,” and reported deaths from hunger during the Covid pandemic. Meanwhile, the government cracked down on informal markets and tightened border security, ordering troops to shoot escapees.
The report also highlighted widespread forced labour, including dangerous tasks for people from poor families, orphans, and street children. Political prison camps remain in operation, with torture, abuse, and malnutrition continuing, though some guards’ violence has slightly decreased.
The UN has called for the situation to be referred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, but such a move would require UN Security Council approval, where China and Russia have historically blocked sanctions efforts.
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