Harrowing news details have emerged of the extreme punishments meted out in North Korea, including prisoners beaten to death with a hammer, a pregnant woman executed, and a farm manager shot after angering Kim Jong Un.
In some of the most shocking cases, inmates were killed in secret ‘indoor executions’ using blunt weapons, while defectors said they witnessed the shooting of minors despite official claims such punishments are banned.
A manager was also executed after all the baby terrapins at a state-run farm died, with sources saying he was shot dead shortly after Kim berated officials during a visit.
The disturbing accounts are laid bare in a new report by Transitional Justice Working Group, which maps executions across the secretive state and reveals how killings surged during the Covid pandemic.
Images included in the report reveal the scale of the killings, showing suspected execution sites across North Korea including firing ranges near airports, football pitches and also in remote fields.
Execution methods vary by location, with many sites in built-up areas where gunfire would be heard, making the use of blunt instruments more likely.
North Korea dramatically increased executions during the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly for consuming South Korean dramas, K-pop and other foreign culture and political offences, a report published Tuesday showed.
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.
Pictured: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) inspecting the Taedonggang terrapin farm in Pyongyang in 2015. A manager was executed after all the baby terrapins at the farm died, with sources saying he was shot dead shortly after Kim berated officials during a visit
Pictured: A video from inside North Korea shows two teenagers being publicly sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for watching Korean TV dramas
DailyNK cited a source inside North Korea who said that there had been non-public executions for roughly one or two persons per week at the kukumso of the city-level State Security Department in Hoeryong City, North Hamgyong Province (pictured)
Campaigners have said the shutdown worsened longstanding human rights abuses in North Korea, whose government is widely seen as one of the world’s most repressive.
The report found that the number of executions and death sentencings more than doubled in the nearly five years after the border closure, compared to the same period before it.
The number of condemned people also more than tripled over the same time frame, according to the findings.
It 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.
It analysed 144 known cases of executions and death sentencings, involving hundreds of people in total.
Of the 111 executions where methods were known, the vast majority were carried out by firing squad, with rifles or machine guns used in 107 cases.
But the report also documented rare and particularly brutal killings, including two executions using blunt instruments such as an iron mace and a hammer in so-called ‘indoor’ or non-public executions.
In another apparent breach of its own laws, defectors reported witnessing the execution of pregnant women and even minors, despite Pyongyang’s claims such punishments are banned.
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 percent after the border closure.
In Pyongyang, execution sites included the firing range of the Kang Kon Military Academy (pictured)
Pictured: The province-level Social Security Bureau building in Chongjin City, North Hamgyong Province, where sources have also documented non-public executions taking place. The building is just a short distance away from a football stadium
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’, the report said.
Nearly three-quarters of the executions were carried out in public, with most people shot to death.
Killings took place in dozens of cities and counties, including sites in Pyongyang as well as airfields, riverbanks, farmland and mine waste yards where crowds were gathered to watch.
a public execution of several individuals by anti-aircraft machine gun fire at Kang Kon Military Academy’s firing range was reportedly captured on satellite imagery in 2014.
Among the most shocking cases linked to the regime is the execution of a terrapin farm manager who fell foul of Kim.
State media outlet Korean Central News Agency showed the dictator berating officials at the Taedonggang Terrapin Farm after all the baby terrapins died due to a lack of electricity and feed.
Sources later said the manager was shot dead shortly after the visit, with no intervention from officials as Kim sought to ‘set an example’.
The North Korean government has long been accused of systematic rights abuses including torture, forced labour and severe restrictions on freedom of expression and movement.
It is believed to operate vast political prison camps holding tens of thousands of detainees.
The United Nations has repeatedly warned that the human rights situation in North Korea has worsened over the past decade.
Pyongyang, however, continues to reject the allegations, accusing the UN of politicising the issue to undermine the regime.
