SEOUL, South Korea — Executions in North Korea increased sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report released on Tuesday, April 28, 2026, by the Transitional Justice Working Group, which said authorities intensified punishments tied to ideological offences and foreign media.
The report examined capital punishment under Kim Jong Un, documenting at least 153 people executed or sentenced to death between 2020 and 2024.
That figure represents a 247 per cent increase compared with the previous five-year period, the group said.
Expansion of Executions and Geographic Spread
Researchers analysed 144 documented cases of executions and death sentences from 2011 to 2024, involving at least 358 individuals, and identified 46 execution sites across the country.
According to the report, executions became more geographically widespread following North Korea’s pandemic-era border closure, expanding from limited areas in the north to multiple provinces and cities nationwide.
Nearly three-quarters of executions were carried out in public settings, including airfields, riverbanks and marketplaces, the group said, describing the practice as a means of deterrence.
Shift Toward Ideological Offences
The report found a shift in the types of offences leading to capital punishment.
While executions for homicide declined by 44 per cent, cases linked to South Korean popular culture, religion and practices described as “superstitious” increased by 250 per cent after 2020.
North Korea introduced a law in 2020 targeting what it called “anti-reactionary thought,” which allows for penalties ranging from long-term forced labour to the death sentence for distributing foreign media.
Historical Context and Trends
The highest number of executions recorded in the report occurred in 2013, early in Kim’s tenure, when more than 80 people were killed.
The frequency of executions declined after a 2014 United Nations Commission of Inquiry report described the country’s human rights abuses as “without parallel in the contemporary world” and recommended referring its leadership to the International Criminal Court.
A subsequent United Nations human rights assessment released in 2025 found that conditions in North Korea had not improved over the past decade and in some areas had worsened, citing food shortages, forced labour and restrictions on movement and expression.
The report said executions rose again following the closure of borders during the pandemic, which researchers linked to reduced external scrutiny and tighter domestic control.
Calls for Accountability
The organisation warned that executions could increase further amid potential political developments within the country.
“There is a high risk of increased executions to strengthen cultural and ideological control and maintain political dominance,” the report said.
Ethan Hee-seok Shin, a legal analyst with the group, called for international measures to address what he described as crimes against humanity.
“To deter and punish this crime against humanity, the international community should consider the creation of a new accountability mechanism,” he said, citing existing United Nations initiatives in other conflict-affected countries as examples.
The group said it plans to broaden its research to include North Korean personnel deployed abroad and overseas workers, pointing to concerns about what it described as transnational repression.
