A new report has documented a surge in executions in North Korea during the Covid-19 pandemic, with harrowing details of prisoners beaten to death with hammers and pregnant women shot. The Transitional Justice Working Group analysed 144 known cases of executions and death sentencings, involving hundreds of people.
Of the 111 executions where methods were known, 107 were carried out by firing squad using rifles or machine guns. However, 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' executions. Defectors reported witnessing the execution of pregnant women and minors, despite Pyongyang's claims such punishments are banned.
Nearly three-quarters of executions were public, with sites including firing ranges near airports, football pitches, and remote fields where crowds gathered to watch. The top localities for executions were Hyesan City (23), Pyongyang (22), and Chongjin City (17).
Since the pandemic, capital punishment for offences such as consuming South Korean movies, dramas, and music has increased. Death penalty cases related to foreign culture, religion, and 'superstition' jumped by 250 percent after the border closure. A video from inside North Korea shows two teenagers being publicly sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for watching Korean TV dramas.
