Number of executions in North Korea rose dramatically during Covid – report

North Korea dramatically increased its use of the death penalty after closing its borders during the Covid-19 pandemic, using its isolation to escalate killings when international scrutiny disappeared, according to a report mapping 13 years of executions under the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un.

The number of documented cases of executions and death sentences increased by 117% in the nearly five years after North Korea sealed its borders in January 2020 compared with an equal period before the closure, according to a report by the Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG), a human rights NGO in Seoul.

The number of people executed or sentenced to death more than tripled, it added.

The report identified 46 execution sites and disclosed coordinates for 40 of them. It also documented 144 cases, including 136 execution events involving at least 358 individuals between December 2011, when Kim became leader, and December 2024, with about 70% of executions carried out publicly with crowds forced to watch.

The report was compiled based on testimony from 265 North Korean defectors who had lived in 51 cities and countries during the 13-year period, as well as information from five North Korea-focused media outlets with sources inside the country.

North Korea closed its borders to nearly all trade and visitors at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, isolating itself from the outside world.

The report claims that the regime exploited the pandemic – and the lack of international scrutiny – to expand the number of “crimes” that carried the death penalty.

Cases of death sentences or executions linked to the use, introduction or dissemination of foreign culture and information, including South Korean films, dramas and music, as well as religious and “superstitious” practices, surged by 250% to become the most common capital offences. Executions and death sentences for people found guilty of murder – previously the most frequent capital crime – fell by 44%.

Those claims echoed previous reports citing a rise in punishments, including execution for watching South Korean TV shows or listening to .