Nonprofit report suggests North Korea turns to private executions amid criticism – JURIST – News

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Seoul-based human rights group the Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG) on Wednesday released a report on human rights violations in North Korea. The report, titled “Mapping Killings under Kim Jong-un: North Korea’s Response to International Pressure” draws information from six years of research and 683 interviews with escapees to track murder sites, mass graves and other places that may contain evidence of human rights violations. .

The TJWG concluded that the North Korean authorities had changed their assassination practices “in response to international criticism” and were now selecting “easier to control” execution sites, such as locations far from the South Korean border. and residential areas.

Of the 683 escapees, the TJWG interviewed 537 women and 145 men. 200 respondents lived in North Korea during Kim Jung-un’s ten-year reign. Most of the people interviewed are between 40 and 80 years old.

The escapees described public executions under Kim Jong-un in fields, airfields, riverbanks and mountains with crowds of up to thousands. However, according to one escapee, “in recent years, viewing of the executions seemed to be restricted to groups affiliated with the accused’s home organization,” such as the accused’s colleagues or family.

The TJWG gathered evidence from four cases in which the accused was sentenced to death but was not executed in public. The organization fears that these cases indicate a growing preference for secret executions.

Going forward, TJWG will collect first-hand accounts of private executions, attempt to “identify those responsible for authorizing violence against citizens” and work to locate “possible custodians of documents that may contain evidence” of violations. human rights.

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