A domestic human rights group released statistics saying executions in North Korea surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, when authorities sealed the border, for reasons such as coming into contact with outside culture including South Korean dramas and films.
On the 28th, the Transitional Justice Working Group, a North Korea human rights organization, issued a report titled "Mapping executions in North Korea before and after the COVID-19 pandemic: 13 years of capital punishment under Kim Jong-un," based on testimony from defectors and reports by North Korea-focused outlets with sources inside the country.
The report analyzed that of the 144 confirmed executions during the 13 years of Kim Jong-un's rule (2011–2024), 65 occurred after the border was sealed due to COVID-19 (since 2020). That is about a 117% increase from the comparable period before the lockdown. The number of people executed also rose 248%, from 44 to 153.
Since the border closure, executions carried out for serious crimes such as intentional murder and manslaughter fell 44.4%, but executions for reasons such as coming into contact with South Korean culture like K-pop and drama, as well as religious and superstitious practices, increased 250%.
In 2020, North Korea enacted the "Law on the rejection of reactionary thought and culture," followed in 2023 by the "Pyongyang cultured language protection law," establishing grounds for capital punishment for residents who come into contact with outside culture.
The report identified 46 locations where executions were carried out during the 13 years of Kim Jong-un's rule. In the five years since the border was sealed due to COVID-19, executions were identified nationwide, but in Pyongyang they were concentrated at five sites within a 10-kilometer radius of the Central Committee headquarters building of the Workers' Party, where the "Kim Jong-un office" is known to be located.