It is being reported by several South Korean papers that on the 3rd of November the North Korean government, led by Kim Jung-un, publicly executed at least 80 North Koreans on charges ranging from ‘prostitution’ to ‘the watching of banned material’.
When dealing with the nation of North Korea (or as North Koreans refer to it, ‘Korea’), a place where anyone going in surrenders their phones and computers, has SD cards checked and are usually only allowed to stay in one designated area, a place where citizens do not have access to the internet as we know it, it is near impossible to verify reports of crimes against humanity.
So, as it stands, the executions are currently unconfirmed but accounts originated from the South Korean Korean JoongAng Daily paper who are citing an unidentified person, said to be recently returned from the North Korea, as their source. Other groups of NK defectors, including the website North Korea Intellectual Solidarity whose goals are ‘to spread awareness about the reality of the North Korean regime and society’, have come out saying they heard word months ago of plans for mass executions.
According to the source, authorities rounded up 10,000 citizens (including children) across seven cities (including Wonsan in Kangwon Province, Chongjin in North Hamgyong Province, Sariwon in North Hwanghae Province and Pyongsong in South Pyongan) and took them to stadiums where groups of people tied to stakes, with heads covered in white sacks, were shot dead by NK forces.
It is believed that most of the Wonsan victims were charged with involvement in prostitution, owning a Bible or watching/illegally trafficking banned material. The crime of watching South Korean TV shows, which are usually smuggled in using mp3 players, DVDs and flash drives is considered especially heinous under the NK regime.
It is worth noting that the Daily NK, a Seoul-based website also run by NK defectors which has a wide network of sources still within the country, has come out saying that they have not heard anything of the murders.
In August of this year it was alleged that Kim Jong-un had twelve entertainers, including a woman rumoured to have been his girlfriend, executed for supposedly making ‘pornography’ and last year he apparently ordered four defectors, who had been repatriated from China, publicly killed.
The South Korean government is yet to comment on the now internationally reported accounts of public executions.
via Japan Times, International Business Times, Sky News, NY Daily News and South China Morning Post
Title image via Getty by Ed Jones
