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, or degrading treatment, which violates Article 7.23
Although North Korea has provisions for procedures and methods of carrying out the death penalty in its Criminal Procedure Law and Sentencing and Decisions Enforcement Law,24 it does not have explicit stipulations for making the execution of the death penalty public. According to the testimonies of North Korean defectors, public execution of the death penalty is still conducted in North Korea, and in the 2017 survey, cases of public execution have been collected. Testimonies indicated that notifications were issued to gather more spectators for a public execution,25 and a group of workers was mobilized to watch the public execution.26 One North Korean defector testified to having witnessed the
23_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.
24_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.”
25_NKHR2017000009 2017-04-10.
public execution of five men in February 2015 in Pyeongseong, South Pyeongan Province, and that approximately 2,000 to 3,000 spectators were present.27 However, this White Paper assesses that the number of residents watching public executions is decreasing despite the issuance of notifications by the authorities.
TableⅡ-8 Cases of Public Execution by Shooting
Testimonies Testifier ID
In June 2013, six men were publicly executed by shooting in Pyongyang.
NKHR2017000033 2017-06-05 In October 2013, two men were publicly executed by shooting
at Hyesan Airfield in Yeonbong 2-dong, Hyesan, Yanggang Province.
NKHR2015000014 2015-01-27 In October 2013, two men were publicly executed by shooting
in Sinuiju, North Pyeongan Province.
NKHR2015000034 2015-02-10 In October 2013, a man was publicly executed by shooting in
Cheongjin, North Hamgyeong Province.
NKHR2016000091 2016-06-14 In the winter of 2013, two men were publicly executed by
shooting in Yeonbong-dong, Hyesan, Yanggang Province.
NKHR2017000112 2017-11-20 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 the fall of 2014, two men were publicly shot dead at Hyesan
Airfield, Yanggang Province.
NKHR2015000027 2015-02-10 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 February 2017, approximately twenty people were publicly
executed by shooting in Pyoksong County, South Hwanghae Province.
NKHR2017000073 2018-08-28
27_NKHR2017000083 2017-09-25.
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 at least constitute violations of Article 7 of the ICCPR. However, in the 2017 survey, as with 2016, there were testimonies that public executions have decreased recently.28 A man in his 40s who escaped from North Korea in 2017 testified that public execution itself decreased; however, people are now
“executed inside.” He stated that executions conducted behind closed doors are more cruel, and assumed that many people had have been executed this way.29 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. There have also been some cases in Cheongjin, North Hamgyeong Province, and Sinuiju, North Pyeongan Province. In the 2017 survey, some executions were witnessed in Pyongyang
28_NKHR2017000006 2017-04-10; NKHR2017000111 2017-11-20.
and Pyoksung County, South Hwanghae 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. Moreover, this is also related to the fact that many of our interviewees are from North Hamgyeong Province and Yanggang Province.