Human Rights Committee stated in its General Comments on the prohibition of torture and inhumane treatment that States must execute the death penalty in such a way as to cause the least possible physical and mental suffering.24 Against this backdrop, it must be considered that being executed publicly constitutes a cruel, inhumane, or degrading punishment for the person subject to the execution, which thereby violates Article 7.25 In this case,
“execution of the death penalty in public” refers to cases where the death penalty is conducted in public, with the committed crimes stipulated in the Criminal Law to be punishable by death and the execution to be carried out according to certain procedures. If it is an extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary execution and is carried out in public, it would violate both Article 6 and Article 7 of the ICCPR. Meanwhile, regardless of whether an execution is due to the death penalty or is an extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary execution, it is bound to be seen by the general population if it is carried out in public. Furthermore, from the perspective of those who witness the execution, the act may constitute cruel, inhumane,
UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment, No. 20 (1992), para. 6.
The UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern over public execution of the death penalty in some national reports including the one by North Korea. UN HRC, Concluding Observations: Islamic Republic of Iran, UN Doc. CCPR/C/IRN/CO/3 (2011); Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, 27 August 2001, UN Doc. CCPR/
CO/72/PRK; Nigeria, UN Doc. CCPR/C/79/ Add.65 (1996). The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment also pointed out the issue of public execution of the death penalty. Note by Secretary- General, Interim Report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, UN Doc. A/67/279 (2012).
or degrading treatment, which violates Article 7.26
Although North Korea has provisions for procedures and methods of carrying out the death penalty in its Criminal Procedure Law and Sentence and Decisions Enforcement Law,27 it does not have explicit stipulations for making the execution of the death penalty public. According to the testimonies of North Korean defectors, public executions are still conducted in North Korea. Public execution cases have also been recorded in the 2018 survey, which include the testimonies of: People’s Unit disclosing the time and place of public execution in advance but not making attendance mandatory28; people being mobilized in school or at work to go and see the execution29; and those considered rebellious elements (so-called “Aerosaeng”) being seperately mobilized to force them to see the execution.30 However, it seems that the number of
The COI also stated the following in its report of the detailed findings, “Especially for young children and relatives of the victim, the experience of [watching such killings] is often so horrifying, that the witnesses must themselves also be considered victims of inhuman and cruel treatment in contravention of Article 7 of the ICCPR.” OHCHR, “Report of the Detailed Findings of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, UN Doc.
A/HRC/25/CRP.1 (2014), para. 830.
Article 421 of the North Korean Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that the death penalty ruling shall be conducted by the punishment enforcement institution that received the death penalty document on direction of enforcement and a certified copy of the written judgment issued by the Supreme Court. Article 32 of the Sentencing and Decisions Enforcement Law has the same provisions as the Criminal Procedure Law and stipulates that the death penalty is to be “conducted in the same way as death by shooting.”
NKHR2018000060 2018-07-02.
NKHR2018000098 2018-10-01.
NKHR2018000114 2018-10-13.
residents going to see the public execution has decreased compared to the past.
TableⅡ-8 Cases of Public Execution by Shooting
Testimonies Testifier ID
In May 2014, two men were publicly executed by shooting at a hop farm, Yeonbong-dong, Hyesan, Yanggang Province.
NKHR2015000039 2015-02-24 In May 2014, two men were publicly executed by shooting in
Hyesan, Yanggang Province.
NKHR2015000040 2015-02-24 In August 2014, three men in their 20s were publicly executed
in a highschool yard in Daeheungri, Kimhyongjik County, Yanggang Province.
NKHR2016000123 2016-08-09 In October 2014, three men were publicly executed by
shooting at an airfield in Yeonbong-dong, Hyesan, Yanggang Province.
NKHR2018000098 2018-10-01 In the fall of 2014, two men were publicly shot dead at
Hyesan Airfield, Yanggang Province.
NKHR2015000027 2015-02-10 In February, 2015, five men were shot dead at the stadium in
Phyongsong City, South Pyeongan Province.
NKHR2017000083 2017-09-25 In the summer of 2014, a city party official was publicly
executed by shooting in Hyesan, Yanggang Province.
NKHR2016000158 2016-09-20 In October 2016, three men and four women were publicly
executed by shooting at an airfield in Yeonbong-dong, Hyesan, Yanggang Province.
NKHR2017000073 2017-08-28 In 2017, two men were shot dead at an airfield in Yeonbong –
dong, Hyesan, Yanggang Province.
NKHR2018000114 2018-10-13 In February 2017, approximately twenty people were publicly
executed by shooting in Pyoksong County, South Hwanghae Province.
NKHR2017000073 2017-08-28 In December 2017 one woman was publicly shot dead at
Onsong County, North Hamgyeong Province.
NKHR2018000107 2018-10-01
Due to limited information, it is not easy to clearly divide the collected cases into those where public execution of the death penalty were conducted and those where extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions were conducted in public. However, aside
from protecting the minimum legal rights of defendants, such as trial procedures, carrying out an execution by shooting in “public”
itself is inhumane under Article 7 of the ICCPR. In this context, the above cases violate, at the very least, Article 7 of the ICCPR.
However, in the 2018 survey, as with 2017, there were testimonies that public executions have recently decreased.31 Regarding the decrease in the number of public executions, more detailed observation is required to determine if it means that there are more private executions or more summary executions taking place in secret.
By region, executions are most witnessed in Hyesan, Yanggang Province. In general, public executions of the death penalty are more concentrated in border areas than in inland areas, and in city areas than in rural areas. This may be because there are relatively more illegal activities in border regions and cities, and the North Korean authorities are trying to warn and incite fear among residents in those regions through public executions.