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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 12 June 2019

Human rights group locates North Korean execution sites

By KIM TONG-HYUNG were more common in the
Associated Press 1990s, North Korea contin-
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — ues to carry them out for
A human rights group said the purpose of instilling fear
Tuesday it has identified in the general population,
hundreds of spots where the report said.
witnesses claim North Ko- The new report said its find-
rea carried out public ex- ings show arbitrary execu-
ecutions and extrajudicial tions and extrajudicial kill-
state killings as part of an ings under state custody
arbitrary and aggressive have continued under the
use of the death penalty rule of young leader Kim
that is meant to intimidate Jong Un despite interna-
its citizens. tional criticism over how
The Seoul-based Transition- North Korea supposedly
al Justice Working Group applies the death pen-
said its research was based alty without due judicial
on interviews with 610 North process. Since assuming
Korean defectors conduct- leadership in 2011, Kim has
ed over four years who shown a brutal side while
helped locate the sites with consolidating his power,
satellite imagery. executing a slew of mem-
The group didn’t reveal the bers of the North Korean
exact locations of the 323 old guard, including his
sites because it’s worried In this Feb. 26, 2019, file photo, South Korean protesters and North Korean defectors hold portraits uncle Jang Seong Thaek,
that North Korea will tam- of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a rally urging the United States to discuss North Korean who was convicted of trea-
per with them, but said 267 human rights issues in the upcoming summit in Seoul, South Korea. son, and senior officials ac-
of them were located in Associated Press cused of slighting his lead-
two northeastern provinces could not independently North still uses public execu- ments are part of U.S.-led ership.
near the border with China, verify the report, and the tions to provoke fear and pressure campaigns meant Following a provocative
the area where most of the group acknowledged that control the behavior of its to tarnish the image of its run in nuclear and missile
defectors who participat- its findings weren’t definite citizens, particularly in city leadership and destroy the tests, Kim initiated diplo-
ed in the study came from. because it doesn’t have and border areas where country’s political system. macy with Washington and
North Korea’s public ex- direct access to North Ko- crimes are more prevalent. In a report to the United Na- Seoul in 2018 in attempt-
ecutions tend to happen rea and cannot visit the The Transitional Justice tions Human Rights Council ing to leverage his arsenal
near rivers, in fields and on sites defectors told it about. Working Group is a non- in May, North Korea said it for economic and security
hills, and also at market- Ethan Hee-Seok Shin, one government organization “consistently maintains the benefits. But North Korea’s
places and school grounds of the report’s authors, also founded by human rights principle of ensuring scien- human rights issues have
— places where residents said interviews with defec- advocates and research- tific accuracy, objectivity so far been sidelined in the
and family members of tors suggest that public ex- ers from South Korea and and impartiality, as well as summitry between Kim,
those sentenced are often ecutions in North Korea are four other countries. The protecting human rights in President Donald Trump,
forced to attend the kill- becoming less frequent, al- group said the new re- dealing with criminal cas- and South Korean Presi-
ings, the report said. though it’s unclear whether port was made possible es.” dent Moon Jae-in.
The group also said it docu- that’s because more peo- by funding from the Wash- A 2014 United Nations re- Almost all of the state killings
mented three sites where ple are being executed in ington-based National En- port on North Korea’s hu- documented in the report
people died while in de- secret. dowment for Democracy, man rights conditions, how- were public executions by
tention and 25 sites where South Korea’s Korea Insti- which is funded by the U.S. ever, said state authorities firing squad. Public execu-
the dead were allegedly tute for National Unifica- Congress. carry out executions, “with tions in most cases are pre-
disposed of by the state. tion, a state-sponsored North Korea didn’t imme- or without trial, publicly or ceded by brief “trials” on
It said it also found official think tank, expressed similar diately respond to the re- secretly,” in response to the spot where charges are
locations that may have views on its annual white port, but the nation bristles political and other crimes announced and sentences
documents or other evi- paper on North Korea’s at outside criticism of its that are often not among are issued without legal
dence related to the kill- human rights released last human rights record and the most serious offenses. counsel for the accused,
ings. he Associated Press week. The institute said the claims negative assess- While public executions the report said.q