Rights group says NK unleashed more executions during Covid lockdown
Rights group says NK unleashed more executions during Covid lockdown
Rights group documents a surge in North Korea's executions during Covid-19 border lockdown, detailing 60 cases and 148 deaths, with sites in Pyongyang.
An international rights group has presented new evidence that North Korea dramatically increased executions after closing its borders for Covid-19. The report outlines 60 execution cases between 2020 and 2024, in which 148 people were put to death, up from 41 executions in the previous five years. The authors say the surge occurred as international pressure waned during the pandemic and the regime tightened its grip.
The group mapped 46 execution sites, with 10 located in Pyongyang close to the office of Kim Jong Un. It notes the data comes from interviews with 880 North Korean defectors in South Korea and satellite imagery; researchers caution the figures should not be treated as definitive.
Before the pandemic, murder was the most common justification for executions, the report says, and it claims the crackdown extended into offences tied to culture, including the consumption of K-dramas and K-pop. The reopening of North Korea began slowly in 2023, and authorities have not officially acknowledged the pandemic's impact on its legal system. Analysts say the findings underscore a pattern of brutal governance and rising penalties amid international isolation.
