A new UN report paints a grim picture of life in North Korea, where the death penalty is increasingly being applied to people caught watching or sharing foreign movies and TV shows.

According to the findings, released by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the regime of Kim Jong-un is using extreme punishments to tighten its grip on society. 

Based on more than 300 interviews with defectors and escapees from the country over the last decade, the report concludes that the dictatorship has intensified its repressive measures.

This includes the expansion of surveillance technology and the use of public executions meant to instill fear and discourage dissent. 

High Commissioner Volker Türk warned that, if conditions remain unchanged, North Koreans will face “greater suffering, brutal repression, and the constant fear they have endured for so long.”

Since 2015, the regime has enacted at least six new laws broadening the scope of capital punishment. Among them is the consumption or distribution of foreign media, a sign of Kim’s determination to isolate his people from outside information. 

Testimonies collected by the UN reveal that, since 2020, executions for distributing South Korean content have become more frequent. One defector, Kang Gyuri, who fled in 2023, recounted how three of her friends were executed after being caught with banned media. Kang even witnessed the trial of a 23-year-old sentenced to death for this offense. 

Kim’s reign over Korea

When Kim Jong-un took power in 2011, many North Koreans hoped for improvements. The leader promised that citizens would no longer have to “tighten their belts,” and pledged to boost the economy while defending the nation with nuclear weapons.

But since abandoning diplomacy with the West in 2019 to focus on weapons development, living conditions and human rights have sharply declined. 

Most people interviewed for the report said they do not have enough to eat, with three meals a day considered a luxury. During the COVID-19 pandemic, food shortages worsened, causing deaths from hunger across the country.

At the same time, authorities cracked down on informal markets that families depended on for survival, while reinforcing border security with China. Soldiers were ordered to shoot on sight anyone attempting to flee. 

The report also documents a rise in forced labor. Poor families and even orphans are recruited into so-called “shock brigades” for dangerous work in construction or mining, where fatalities are common. Rather than improving safety, the regime glorifies these deaths as sacrifices to Kim Jong-un. 

At least four political prison camps remain operational, the report adds. These facilities are notorious for torture, disappearances, and life sentences. While some defectors mentioned minor reductions in guard violence, conditions remain among the most severe human rights violations worldwide. 

The UN has called for the situation to be referred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. However, this would require approval from the UN Security Council, where China and Russia have consistently blocked attempts to impose additional sanctions on North Korea since 2019. 

In its conclusions, the UN urges the North Korean government to immediately close its prison camps, end the use of capital punishment, and begin teaching its citizens about human rights. “Our reports show a clear and determined desire for change, especially among young North Koreans,” Türk said.