Kim Jong Un orders review of government standards for executions

Executions in North Korea are held either in public or behind closed doors, with public executions serving as an important means of fomenting public fear to maintain the regime.

The latest orders from Kim Jong Un are to more clearly differentiate public and closed-door executions and to impose stricter standards for party safety committees at the regional and central levels to use when deciding whether to execute somebody.

“Until now, decisions to carry out an execution by party safety committees at the regional level had been swiftly authorized without a comprehensive review at the central level. But in the future, those decisions will have to be reviewed more carefully and comprehensively approved by central law enforcement agencies,” a source in North Korea told Daily NK recently. 

“The orders also said that outside of special circumstances, most executions should be carried out behind closed doors and that rules for reviewing and approving executions should be enacted accordingly.”

The two ministries were instructed to take responsibility for making sure the orders are properly implemented, and all national security and police organizations were asked to stick to regulations and not condone irregular behaviors.

The orders will take effect on Dec. 1, following a working-level discussion period. That suggests the organizational work needed to clearly differentiate the requirements for public executions and closed-door executions will be concluded by the end of the month.

Some believe public executions are still effective

However, some North Korean officials seem to feel that public executions are necessary for controlling the public.

“Some state security agents say that public executions are effective at keeping people alert. Others say it’s impossible to change people’s belief that their lives depend more on the words of Kim Jong Un than on the law,” the source said.

Intriguingly, these orders were given after the U.N.’s fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of North Korean human rights, which was held in Geneva, Switzerland, on Nov. 7.

North Korea acknowledged its practice of public executions in the UPR review. A representative said that executions in principle are carried out behind closed doors, but that there may be exceptions. That indicates that the North continues to use public executions as a method of regime preservation and public control.

“North Korea sought to justify itself both in the third and fourth UPRs by saying that heinous criminals could be publicly executed when desired by the victims’ families,” said Shin Hee-seok (Ethan Shin), legal analyst at Transitional Justice Working Group. “But the latest orders show nonetheless that North Korea is working to reduce public executions in light of criticism from the international community.”

Shin added: “The fact that Kim Jong Un’s orders don’t mention the wishes of victims’ families arouses suspicions that all that talk about victims’ families at the U.N. was just window dressing. It’s also worth noting that this confirms that decisions about public executions are approved by party safety committees.”

Daily NK works with a network of sources in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. For security reasons, their identities remain anonymous.

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