The North Korean government is increasingly using the death penalty against citizens caught watching or sharing foreign films and television dramas, a new United Nations (UN) report has revealed.
According to the BBC, the report shows that the regime, already isolated from the outside world, is tightening restrictions on freedoms while forcing more people into hard labour.
The UN Human Rights Office said the state has tightened control over “all aspects of citizens’ lives” in the last decade. It added that surveillance had become “more pervasive”, aided by technology.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, warned that if the trend continues, North Koreans will face “more suffering, brutal repression and fear”.
The report, based on over 300 interviews with escapees, found that at least six new laws introduced since 2015 now allow capital punishment, including for consuming or distributing foreign media content.
Witnesses said more public executions have taken place since 2020, with firing squads used to instill fear. One escapee, Kang Gyuri, told the BBC that three of her friends were killed for possessing South Korean content.
“When Kim Jong Un came to power in 2011, we had hope for change, but life only got worse,” she said.
The report also highlighted food shortages, worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic, with many people describing three meals a day as a “luxury”. At the same time, authorities cracked down on informal markets, tightened border controls, and ordered troops to shoot those trying to flee.
It further revealed the continued use of forced labour, including the recruitment of orphans and children from poor families into dangerous work such as mining and construction.
The findings follow a 2014 UN inquiry which accused North Korea of committing crimes against humanity. At least four political prison camps remain in operation, while torture, malnutrition, and abuse persist in prisons.
The UN has recommended referring the situation to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, but such action faces resistance at the UN Security Council, where China and Russia have blocked past efforts.
