
Pandemic Drives Sharp Rise in North Korea Executions, NGO Reports
An NGO report by the Transitional Justice Working Group says North Korea executed 358 people between 2011 and 2024, with a pandemic-era spike: 153 executions or death sentences from 2020–2024, up from 44 in the previous five years. Offences include religion, superstition, and watching foreign media like K-dramas and K-pop; most executions were public and by shooting at 46 identified sites, as the regime tightens ideological control amid Kim Jong Un's fourth hereditary succession.








