NK Human Rights

[Anchor Lead]

A survey conducted by an organization dealing with North Korean human rights has found that there are more than 300 execution sites in the North. Public executions carried out at marketplaces and on riverbanks are also said to be common.

[Pkg]

Kwak Jung-ae was repatriated to North Korea from China and went through an ordeal in a North Korean prison before she finally succeeded in escaping from the regime in 2007. She says that North Korean prison cells are packed with dozens of prisoners, and that many of them end up dying after enduring torture and hard labor.

[Soundbite] Kwak Jung-ae(Escaped from N. Korea in 2007) : "The bodies are piled up in warehouses. In summer the rotten smell spreads all over the place."

A North Korea human rights organization funded by the U.S. Congress has interviewed 375 North Korean escapees and found that there are 333 execution venues where crimes against humanity had been committed and 47 collective burial and cremation sites. The escapees said that public executions at marketplaces and on riverbanks have become a common sight in the North, and oftentimes the bodies of the executed are simply left on the street. The list of crimes subject to execution consists of some 20 offenses, such as assistance in defection, distribution of South Korean materials and burglary. Inhumane public executions are no longer unusual.

[Soundbite] Lee Young-hwan(Representative, Transitional Justice Working Group) : '"The most shocking part was to hear the escapees say that they were used to seeing the bodies of executed people on the street because they were labeled as "criminals" by the government."

The human rights organization says that North Korea continues to execute its citizens in public to spread fear.