Regime used its isolation after closing borders to escalate killings when global scrutiny disappeared, NGO claims
North Korea dramatically increased its use of the death penalty after closing its borders during the Covid-19 pandemic, using its isolation to escalate killings when international scrutiny disappeared, according to a report mapping 13 years of executions under the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un.
The number of documented cases of executions and death sentences increased by 117% in the nearly five years after North Korea sealed its borders in January 2020 compared with an equal period before the closure, according to a report by the Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG), a human rights NGO in Seoul.
The number of people executed or sentenced to death more than tripled, it added.
The report identified 46 execution sites and disclosed coordinates for 40 of them. It also documented 144 cases, including 136 execution events involving at least 358 individuals between December 2011, when Kim became leader, and December 2024, with about 70% of executions carried out publicly with crowds forced to watch.
