North Korea: 80 people publicly executed for watching foreign television

North Korean flag flies on Pyongyang. Photograph by Stephan

North Korea has publicly executed 80 people, mostly for watching foreign television programmes according to reports in a South Korean newspaper.

JoongAng Ilbo reported that the executions were carried out in public arenas in seven cities across North Korea on 3rd November, with 10,000 people allegedly forced to watch executions in a sports stadium in Wonsan.

Those executed were mostly charged with the “crime” of illegally watching South Korean television dramas, with others charged with prostitution.

The newspaper cited a “single unidentified” source and the origin of the reports, and the information cannot be verified with the lack of information flow and telecommunications access in the communist state. However, public executions are known to occur on occasion, and Daily NK, a news website run by North Korean defectors, also claimed to have heard reports of the killings.

There is a dark economy of smuggled television and film content being smuggled into the country on DVDs and USB flash drives.