The U

The U.S. State Department's annual human rights report on North Korea stated that; human rights groups had received reports of extra-judicial killings; executions had reportedly been carried out at public meetings attended by workers, students and schoolchildren; members of underground churches had been killed for their religious beliefs; the ruling Korea' Workers Party required citizens to display pictures of "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il and his father and that defacing or disrespecting their images was a political crime which could even be punishable by death.

(Sources: Reuters, 27/02/2001)