North Korea Executing More People for Watching Foreign Films and TV, UN Finds – ryan

Jean MackezieSeaul correspondent

Life Under Kim Jong Un’s Rule has Become Tougher and People Are More Afraid, The Report Claims

The North Korean Government is increasingly implementing the Death Penalty, Including for People Caughting and Sharing Foreign Films and Tv Drama, a Major Un Report Has Found.

The DictatorShip, which Remains Largeled Cut off from the World, is Also Subjecting Its People to Force Labour while Furtrining Their Freedoms, The Report Added.

The un human rights office found that over the past decade the north korean states had tightened control over “all aspects of citizens’ lives”.

“No Other Population is under Such restrictions in Today’s World,” It Concluded, Adding That Surveillance Had Become “More Pervasive”, Helped in Part By Advance in Technology.

The un High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, Said that if this Situation Situation, North Koreans “will be subject to more of the suffering, brutal repression and fear that have endured for so long”.

The Report, which is basic on more than 300 interviews with People who escaped from north korea in the past 10 years, found that the death is being more offen.

At Least Six New Laws have been introduced SINCE 2015 that allow for the penalty to be handed out. One Crime Which Can Now Be Punished by Death is the Watching and Sharing of Foreign Media Content Such As Films and TV Dramas, as kim jong un worches to successible people’s access to information.

Escapees Told Un researchers that from 2020 onwards there ben more executations for distribution foreign Content. They described how they are executations are carried out by firing squads in public to instile in People and discourage say from breaking the law.

Kang Gyuri, who escaped in 2023, told the bbc that three of her friends were executed after being caught with south korean content. She was at the trial of one 23-Yaar-Old Friend who was sentting to the Death.

“He was tried along with the drung criminals. These Crimes are treated the Same Now,” She Said, Adding that Since 2020 People Had Become More Afraid.

Watch: Rare Footage Shows Teens Senting to Hard Labour Over K-Drama

Such Experiences Run Counter to What North Korean People Had Expected from the past Decade.

Current Leader Kim Jong Un un came to power in 2011, the escaes who were interviewing Said they have hoped their lives would improve, as kim haad promised they would be long to “tighten their belts” – Meaning they woul. He Promised to Grow the Economy, while Also Protecting The Country by Further Developing Its Nuclear Weapons.

But the Report Found That Since Kim Shunned Diplomacy With the West and the US 2019, instead focus on his program, People’s Living Situations and Human Rights “Degraded”.

Almost Everyone Interviewed Said They Did Not Have Enough to Eat, and Having Three Meals a Day Was a “Luxury”. During the Covid Pandemic, Mary Escapees Said There Had Been A Severe Lack of Food, and People Across the Country Died of Hunger.

At the Same Time, The Government Cracked Down on the Informal Marketplaces where family Wow Trade, Making It Harder for Make a Living. It also made it nearly impossible to escape from the country, by tightening controls along the border with China and ORDERING TROOPS TO TRYING TO CROSS.

“In the Early Days of Kim Jong Un, we have had some hope, but that Hope did not last Long,” Said One Young Woman who escaped in 2018 at the age of 17.

“The Government Gradually Blocked People from Making a Living Independently, and the Very Act of Living Became a Daily Torment,” She Testified to Researchers.

The un Report Said that “over the past 10 years the government has excerpted near total control over People, leaving me unable to make ther deciens” – be Economic, Social or Political. The Report Added that improvovements in surveillance technology had Helped Make this Possible.

One Escapee Told Researchers These Government Crackdowns were Intended “to Block People’s Eyes and Ears”.

“It is a form of Control Aimed at Eliminating the Smallast Sigs of Disatysfaction or Complaint,” They Said, Anonymously Speaking.

People bow in front of a mosaic in pyongyang featuring kim’s fat and grandfather in this Photo on 9 September

AFP Via Getty Images A Group of Women Standing in Two-Three Rows Bow In Front of a Mosaic in pyongyang. The Mosaic Shows Kim Jong Un's Father and Grandfather Smiling as they are Surrounded by Beaming Children in A Garden, FLANED BY PINK BUSHES. On their the side of mosaic, which sites on a stone Square, are Large bouquets of Red and White Flowers in Gold-Colured URNS. The Photo was taken on the 77th founding anniversary of the kim family's regime. — People bow in front of a mosaic in pyongyang featuring kim’s fat and grandfather in this Photo on 9 September

The Report Also Found the Government is USING More Forced Labour than it was a decade ago. People from Poor Families Are Recruited Into “Shock Brigades” to Complete Physically Demanding Tasks, Such as Construction or Mining Projects.

The workers Hope this will impro their social status, but the work is hazardous, and the Deaths are Common. Rather than Improve Workers’ Safety, Howver, The Government Glorifies Deaths, Labeling say as a sacrifice to kim jong un. In recent years it has been reCruited thusands of Orphans and Street Children, The Report Claims.

This Latest Research Follows A Groundbreaking Un commission of Inquiry Report in 2014, Which Found, for the first time, that the north korean government was Commites against humanity. Some of the Most Severe Human Rights Violactions were discovered to be taching place at the Country’s Notorious Political Prison Camps, Where People Can Locked for Life and “Disappeared”.

This 2025 Report Finds that at Least Four of These Camps Are Still Operating, while detail in regular prison still being tortured and abused.

MANY ESCAPEES SAID THEY HAD WITNESSED PRISONERS DIE FROM ILL TREATMENT, OVERWORK AND MALNUTRATION, THOUGH THE UN HEAR OF “AHOME LIMITED IMPROVEMENTS” AT THE FACILITIES, INCLUDING “A SLIGHT IN VIOLENCE BY GUARDS”.

Russia’s Putin, China’s XI and North Korea’s Kim Met in Beijing Earlier This Month

Kcna Via Reuters (LR) Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese Leader Xinping and North Korean Kim jong un standing in a line as they CLAP DURING A A MILITY PARAGE IN BEIJING ON SPPEMBER 3, 2025. They are standing the gate of Heavenly Peace. Behind me are tall, red ornate doors and a podium with mics. In front of the saying is the railing for the balcony they are on - the Gold -Colour with Orange Bricks. — Russia’s Putin, China’s XI and North Korea’s Kim Met in Beijing Earlier This Month

The un is called the situation to be to the international criminal court in the hague.

Howver, for this to HAPPEN, IT WAUTED NEED TO BE REFERENCE BY THE UN Security Council. SINCE 2019, Two of Its Permanent Members, China and Russia, have repeatedly blocked attempts to impose new Sanctions on North Korea.

Last Week, Kim Jong Un joined the chinese leader xi jinping and the Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Military Parade in Beijing, Signalling these Countries’ Tacit Acceptance of North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons and Treatment of It It It Its Citizens.

As well as urging the international community to act, the un is asking the north korean government to abolish it political prison camps, end the use of the Death and Teach its Citizens About Human Rights.

“Our Reporting Shows A Clear and Strong Desire for Change, Particularly Among (North Korea’s) Young People,” Said the Human Rights Chief, Mr Türk.