Executions in North Korea ramped up significantly during pandemic - report

Executions rose sharply in North Korea during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a Seoul-based NGO.

From January 2020 to the end of 2024, at least 153 people were executed or sentenced to death - a sharp increase from 44 people in the five years before the pandemic, according to a report by the Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG).

Some of the most common offences were related to religion, superstition and foreign cultural content - including the consumption of K-dramas and K-pop.

The number of killings declined between 2015 and 2019 amid international pressure following a landmark UN inquiry. But executions surged in 2020, after Pyongyang closed its borders, said TJWG.

The NGO found that executions in North Korea peaked in the early years of Kim's rule, with more than 80 people executed in 2013.