In the DPRK, the number of executions has increased to 153 cases in four years of the pandemic

North Korea has seen a surge in executions during the COVID-19 pandemic: from January 2020 to the end of 2024, at least 153 people were executed or sentenced to death.

This is reported by the BBC, citing a report by a non-governmental organization, the Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG).

The report says that at least 54 people were executed in 2020, and 45 in 2021. For example, from 2016 to 2019, about five people were killed per year for violating the law. However, there was another peak when Kim Jong-un officially came to power: in 2013, more than 80 people were executed.

The most common offenses are religion, superstition, and foreign cultural content (such as doramas or K-pop). South Korean content is banned in the DPRK because it “threatens ideology”. Other reasons for execution include criticizing Kim Jong Un or the ruling party, premeditated murder, drug trafficking, and aiding and abetting escape from the country.

TJWG has collected testimonies from over 250 North Korean citizens who have left the country. According to their data, 358 people were executed in the DPRK from 2011 to 2024 (over 70% of executions were public).

• Negative dynamics are not limited to North Korea. In Iran, at least 1 639 people were executed in 2025, the highest number since 1989.

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