North Korea
2026
- GOVERNMENT
- dictatorial communist state
- CONSTITUTION
- adopted in 1948, revised numerous times, most recently in 2009
- LEGAL SYSTEM
- based on the German, Japanese systems and inspired by communist legal doctrine
- LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM
- unicameral, Supreme People's Assembly (Ch'oego Inmin Hoeui)
- JUDICIAL SYSTEM
- Central Court, judges elected by the Supreme People's Assembly
RELIGIONS
majority Buddhist and Confucian; minority Christian and others
From the country
- JUNE 7, 2021North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA: CITIZEN EXECUTED FOR KILLING 10-YEAR-OLD SON
Saudi authorities on 1st June 2021 executed a citizen for murdering his 10-year-old son.
JUNE 7, 2021North KoreaDEATH PENALTYNORTH KOREA: OFFICIALS SCARED AFTER SISTER OF KIM JONG UN HAS THEIR COLLEAGUES EXECUTED
Government officials in North Korea are living in fear after a series of executions of their colleagues on the orders of leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, two officials told RFA.
MAY 31, 2021North KoreaDEATH PENALTYNORTH KOREA: MAN EXECUTED FOR ILLEGALLY SELLING CDS AND USBS WITH S. KOREAN MOVIES, DRAMAS AND MUSIC VIDEOS
In late April, North Korean authorities publicly executed a man living in Wonsan (Gangwon Province) who illegally sold CDs and USBs filled with South Korean movies, dramas, and music videos.
- MAY 18, 2021North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
KOREA APPEARS TO HAVE EXECUTED TWO MEN FORCIBLY REPATRIATED BY S. KOREA TO N. KOREA IN 2019
Two North Koreans who crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) into South Korea in November of 2019 have reportedly appeared in educational materials published by North Korea’s Ministry of State Security.
MAY 11, 2021North KoreaDEATH PENALTYNORTH KOREA: KIM JONG UN HAD CONDUCTOR EXECUTED BY FIRING SQUAD FOLLOWING CELEBRATION, SOUTH KOREAN PAPER SAYS
A recent report from a South Korean newspaper said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the execution of a choir conductor, who was allegedly shot 90 times in front of members of the public.
MAY 3, 2021North KoreaDEATH PENALTYNORTH KOREA: KIM JONG UN 'HAS OFFICIAL EXECUTED FOR IMPORTING CHEAP CHINESE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT’
North Korea has executed a party official after he defied Kim Jong-un in the hope of getting an empty showpiece hospital opened to patients, South Korea's Daily NK newspaper reported on 23 April 2021.
APRIL 10, 2021North KoreaDEATH PENALTYNORTH KOREA: AUTHORITIES EXECUTE CHAIRMAN OF ‘DISTANCE EDUCATION ACT’ COMMISSION
Daily NK learned on 9 April 2021 that following an Organization and Guidance Department (OGD) investigation into the Ministry of Higher Education’s “non-standing commission for the implementation of the Distance Education Act,” North Korean authorities la
- MARCH 13, 2021North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
NORTH KOREA: FOUR PUBLICLY EXECUTED IN PYONGYANG ON CHARGES OF DISTRIBUTING ‘ILLEGAL VIDEO MATERIALS’
Four North Koreans were publicly executed in Pyongyang recently on charges of distributing “illegal video materials,” Daily NK has learned.
- DECEMBER 20, 2020North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
NORTH KOREA: FISHING FLEET CAPTAIN EXECUTED FOR LISTENING TO RFA
Authorities in North Korea executed the owner of a fishing fleet in front of 100 boat captains and fisheries executives for secretly listening to broadcasts by Radio Free Asia and other forbidden media outlets while at sea.
DECEMBER 5, 2020North KoreaDEATH PENALTYNORTH KOREA: CITIZEN PUBLICLY EXECUTED FOR BREAKING COVID RESTRICTION RULES
North Korea held a public execution by firing squad on 28 November 2020 to punish a breach of coronavirus rules, insiders in the country say.
DECEMBER 1, 2020North KoreaDEATH PENALTYNORTH KOREA: FOUR SOLDIERS EXECUTED FOR TAKING PART IN HYESAN INCIDENT
Two border guard officers and two rank-and-file soldiers implicated in the recent smuggling case that prompted a lockdown on the city of Hyesan on 22 November 2020 were executed by firing squad, a Daily NK source in Yanggang Province has reported.
- NOVEMBER 30, 2020North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
NORTH KOREA: TWO PEOPLE EXECUTED, SEOUL’S SPY AGENCY DAYS
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered at least two people executed, banned fishing at sea and locked down the capital, Pyongyang.