UN report reveals increased executions, tighter surveillance in North Korea

North Korean authorities have intensified repressive measures, imposing severe punishments — including executions — for expressing opinions freely and accessing outside information.

The findings were detailed in a new United Nations report on the human rights situation in the country. The document is based on testimony from several hundred witnesses who fled North Korea and described widespread violations of citizens’ rights and freedoms. The UN last published a comparable report in 2015.

“The human rights situation in North Korea has not improved over the past decade and has even deteriorated in many respects, further exacerbating the suffering of the population,” the report states.

According to the document, new laws and policies have been enacted to tighten state control over nearly all aspects of daily life and to expand surveillance. “No other people in the modern world are subject to such restrictions,” the report notes. One defector is quoted as saying: “It was a form of control aimed at eliminating even the slightest signs of discontent or complaints.”

The UN emphasises that in 2025 North Korea is more closed to the outside world than at any other time in its history. The report links this deepening isolation to a worsening human rights climate as well as broader consequences for peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.

In connection with the report titled A Lost Decade in North Korea, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk declared: “And it pains me to say that if the DPRK continues on its current trajectory, the population will continue to face suffering, brutal repression and fear.”

According to The Guardian, James Heenan, head of the UN Human Rights Office on North Korea, told reporters in Geneva that the number of executions for both criminal and political offences has risen since the imposition of COVID-19 restrictions. The UN notes that capital punishment is also applied for distributing foreign media content, including television series.

At the same time, the report highlights limited signs of progress. Some North Koreans reported improvements in detention conditions, such as fewer cases of violence by guards and a greater awareness among prison staff of standards governing the treatment of detainees.

By Tamilla Hasanova