North Korea
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Retentionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 3
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · A commentary on Korean Criminal Law considers the use...
- News items in the archive
- 257
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
North Korea is classified as Retentionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 3 the year before. The archive holds 257 news items on North Korea, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- JULY 12, 2026North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
NORTH KOREA: MILITARY OFFICER EXECUTED FOR STEALING RESERVE GRAIN
- FEBRUARY 4, 2026North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
NORTH KOREA: PEOPLE ‘EXECUTED FOR WATCHING SOUTH KOREAN TV’, BRIBERY TO ESCAPE PUNISHMENT WIDESPREAD
North Koreans caught watching South Korean television shows face public humiliation, years in labour camps or even execution – with the harshest punishments for those too poor to pay bribes, according to testimonies given to Amnesty International.
- NOVEMBER 25, 2025North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
NORTH KOREA EXECUTES 'BIG SHOT' COUPLE WHO BECAME 'ARROGANT' AFTER THE SUCCESS OF THEIR BUSINESS, ACCUSING THEM OF BEING 'ANTI-REPUBLIC'
North Korea has executed a 'big shot' couple accused of being arrogant and anti-republic after the success of their business, Daily Mail reported on November 18, 2025.
- SEPTEMBER 15, 2025North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
NORTH KOREA EXECUTES PEOPLE FOR SHARING FOREIGN FILMS AND TV, UN REPORT SAYS
North Korea has executed people for distributing foreign media, including television shows like popular South Korean dramas
- JUNE 10, 2025North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
NORTH KOREAN ESCAPEES SPEAK AT UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY, DRAWING ANGER FROM PYONGYANG
One North Korean woman described how her father died of starvation. Another said her friends were publicly executed for watching and sharing South Korean television dramas. North Korea’s ambassador appeared unmoved. When he got up to speak, he described i
MARCH 17, 2025North KoreaDEATH PENALTYNORTH KOREA: THREE MEN TIED UP AND EXECUTED IN FRONT OF VILLAGERS
Three North Koreans have been tied to stakes and riddled with bullets in a public execution in front of villagers after they tried to flee the country, Mirror reported on March 14, 2025.
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2024North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
NORTH KOREA EXECUTES 2 WOMEN WHO FLED AND WERE FORCIBLY REPATRIATED FROM CHINA
North Korea has executed two women who had been forcibly repatriated from China for helping other North Koreans in China escape to South Korea, a human rights organization told Radio Free Asia.
- SEPTEMBER 5, 2024North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
NORTH KOREA MAY HAVE EXECUTED OFFICIALS OVER FLOOD DAMAGE: SPY AGENCY
North Korea is suspected of executing a number of officials held responsible for devastating floods this year
JULY 15, 2024North KoreaDEATH PENALTYNORTH KOREA: MAN EXECUTED FOR DISTRIBUTING K-POP, REPORT FROM DEFECTORS SHOWS
A 22-year-old North Korean was publicly executed in 2022 for watching and sharing South Korean films and music, a new report claims.
- JANUARY 21, 2024North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
NORTH KOREA: RARE FOOTAGE SHOWS TEENS SENTENCED TO HARD LABOUR OVER K-DRAMA
Rare footage obtained by BBC Korean shows North Korea publicly sentencing two teenage boys to 12 years of hard labour for watching K-dramas.
- DECEMBER 30, 2023North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
NORTH KOREA: PUBLICLY EXECUTED FOR KILLING A WOMAN WHILE TRYING TO STEAL BEANS
Hundreds of residents were forced to gather at an airfield in frigid weather to watch authorities execute a 23-year-old man by firing squad on December 19, 2023, residents in North Korea told Radio Free Asia.
OCTOBER 4, 2023North KoreaDEATH PENALTYNORTH KOREA: WAREHOUSE MANAGER EXECUTED FOR STEALING PENICILLIN
A manager at a North Korean pharmaceutical warehouse was publicly executed last month for stealing 20,000 doses of penicillin, sources inside the country said.
- SEPTEMBER 9, 2023North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
NORTH KOREA: 9 PEOPLE PUBLICLY EXECUTED FOR RUNNING BEEF SMUGGLING RING
A crowd of 25,000 people were forced to gather at the airport in Hyesan, North Korea, and made to watch the shooting of nine people.
- JULY 3, 2023North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
NORTH KOREA: TWO WOMEN EXECUTED IN S. HWANGHAE PROVINCE FOR WATCHING S. KOREAN PROGRAMS
Earlier this month, two female farm workers in Chongdam County, South Hwanghae Province, were publicly executed for breaking the channel lock on their television and secretly watching South Korean programs, Daily NK has learned.
JUNE 22, 2023North KoreaDEATH PENALTYNORTH KOREA: FIVE INMATES AT POLITICAL PRISON CAMP PUBLICLY EXECUTED FOR CAUSING A ‘DISTURBANCE’
Five inmates at the concentration camp in the Susong District (otherwise known as Camp No. 25 in Chongjin) were executed by firing squad in broad daylight in mid-May, according to a source in the country on June 19, 2023, speaking on condition of anonymit
- APRIL 2, 2023North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
NORTH KOREAN EXECUTIONS AND TORTURE ALLEGED IN NEW REPORT
North Korea executes people for sharing South Korean media, religious activities and drugs as the country stifles its citizens’ human rights and freedom, according to a report published on 30 March 2023 by South Korea.
JANUARY 18, 2023North KoreaDEATH PENALTYNORTH KOREA: FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER RI YONG-HO LIKELY EXECUTED LAST YEAR
Former North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho appears to have been executed last year, a Japanese newspaper reported on 4 January 2023.
DECEMBER 5, 2022North KoreaDEATH PENALTYNORTH KOREA: THREE TEENAGERS PUBLICLY EXECUTED
North Korea has publicly executed three teenagers by firing squad – two for watching and distributing South Korean movies and one for murdering his stepmother – two sources who witnessed it told Radio Free Asia.
NOVEMBER 29, 2022North KoreaDEATH PENALTYNORTH KOREA: DEATH PENALTY THREATENED FOR SPREADING COVID ‘RUMORS’
A notice posted in the North Korean capital earlier this year and seen by NK News this week warns that those who spread “rumors” about COVID-19 and Pyongyang’s quarantine policies could face the death penalty.
- MARCH 2, 2022North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
NORTH KOREA: DAUGHTER OF HIGH-RANKING CADRE ALONG WITH BOYFRIEND EXECUTED FOR WATCHING AND DISTRIBUTING S. KOREAN VIDEOS
The daughter of a high-ranking cadre along with her boyfriend have been publicly executed for watching and distributing South Korean films, soap operas, and entertainment programs.
DECEMBER 16, 2021North KoreaDEATH PENALTYNORTH KOREA: AT LEAST 7 PEOPLE REPORTEDLY PUBLICLY EXECUTED FOR WATCHING K-POP
A new report from a human rights group has found North Korea has publicly executed at least seven people for watching or distributing K-pop videos in the last decade.
- NOVEMBER 24, 2021North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
NORTH KOREAN SENTENCED TO DEATH AFTER STUDENTS CAUGHT WATCHING SQUID GAME
North Korea has sentenced to death a man who smuggled and sold copies of the Netflix series “Squid Game”.
- SEPTEMBER 12, 2021North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
NORTH KOREAN OFFICIALS INVOLVED IN MURDER, TORTURE, AND POSSIBLE CHRISTIAN GENOCIDE: REPORT
Officials in North Korea carried out murder, torture, and acts that could constitute genocide against certain groups of people, including Christians, a report released last week revealed.
JUNE 8, 2021North KoreaDEATH PENALTYNORTH KOREA: KIM JONG-UN WAGING WAR ON SLANG, JEANS AND FOREIGN FILMS
North Korea has recently introduced a sweeping new law which seeks to stamp out any kind of foreign influence - harshly punishing anyone caught with foreign films, clothing or even using slang, BBC reported on 7 June 2021.
- 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 PENALTY
NORTH 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.