From The Marmot's Hole:
North Korean Executions: “Gunshots across the country”
by robert neff on January 24, 2011
About two weeks ago the Choson Ilbo (January 13, 2011) reported executions in North Korea were increasing.
A diplomatic source familiar with North Korean affairs Wednesday said there were 60 confirmed public executions in the North last year, more than triple the number of 2009. “Since last year, the regime has put a notice on bulletin boards warning that those who use Chinese-made mobile phones or illegally circulate dollars face public execution, the source said.
Another source familiar with North Korean affairs said, “It’s rumored that Kim Jong-un has called for ‘gunshots across the country.’ Kim Jong-il did exactly the same thing when he took power.”
Jang Se-yul of the North Korean People’s Liberation Front, a group of former North Korean soldiers and officers who defected to South Korea, said, “In Chongjin, North Hamgyong Province alone last year, at least six people were executed publicly on charges of human trafficking and robbery. People are executed publicly for crimes that would have sent them to prison for just a few years in the past.”
It also noted that the Workers Party had included a new clause in its regulation ”to oppose and fight against anti-socialist trends.”
A South Korean intelligence official said the phrase refers to elements of capitalism that have flowed in from South Korea. “The regime has paved the way to publicly execute even people who watch South Korean soap operas or dress in South Korean style, branding them as anti-party elements,” he said.
But it is not only soap operas and South Korean fashion that is leading to the increase in executions. The NK authorities are cracking down on people caught picking up and reading South Korean propaganda. According to the Choson Ilbo (January 24, 2011), 500 residents – including the family members of South Korean prisoners of war – were assembled to watch two executions.
The victims were a 45-year-old woman accused of reading a South Korean propaganda leaflet and failing to notify authorities and a high-ranking regional military officer charged with pocketing the dollar bills that were sent along with the leaflets.
Not sure how much that North Korean officer was pocketing but if you remember in 2008 (Marmot’s Hole – Dollars from Heaven and Park Sang-hak):
Park says he has sent nearly 2 million anti-Kim leaflets north by balloon. Since April, he says, each of the water-proof leaflets borne by his balloons is attached to a U.S. dollar bill.” According to Park: “Because of my balloons, the North Koreans are rounding up anyone with one dollar.”
But executions aren’t the only way the North Koreans are trying to discourage people from picking up the South Korean propaganda:
North Korean defectors said anyone who picks up an anti-communist leaflet must notify the authorities on pain of severe punishment. They said North Koreans are taught from a young age that eating South Korean-made cookies causes gut rot while picking up pens or lighters made in the South will make the hands decay.
Not All The Executed Are Innocent
Legitimate criminals are also being executed. According to this article in the Daily NK (January 18, 2011) – an 18-year-old North Korean high school student killed his parents with a cooking knife because they did not give him money for school. Apparently school in North Korea is not as free as we thought:
North Korea’s educational system is nominally free, but the reality is not so. Even though students do not need to pay for their education, they have to pay for all kinds of items; to support the army, raise rabbits, buy text books, and maintain school buildings and more.
If students cannot provide the money, they are bullied by teachers and other students. In that case, it is hard for them to continue to go school. According to defectors, there are even many cases where the wages of teachers are covered with money offered by students.
A defector from Pyongyang said, “In schools, a teacher orders a class president to collect money from students and those who don’t give it tend to get hit,” and added, “Students know very well that if parents don’t give the money, they will get a scolding from the teacher and bullied by other students. Therefore, the numbers of those who don’t go to school constantly increases.”
This heinous crime took place in November when it was getting cold and it appears that he will be dead in the spring as it gets warmer.
The Pyongyang source added, “After being sent back to Pyongyang, he went through a two month investigation and trial and was sentenced to death. Now he is in the No. 4 Reeducation Camp in Kangdong, Pyongyang.”
The source said that there is a rumor that once the weather gets warmer, a public execution will be held, explaining, “Even though he is young, since he killed his parents and attempted to defect, he was sentenced to death.”
For those interested -Daily NK has this review of a book dealing with life in the North Korean prison camps.
North Korean Executions: “Gunshots across the country”
by robert neff on January 24, 2011
About two weeks ago the Choson Ilbo (January 13, 2011) reported executions in North Korea were increasing.
A diplomatic source familiar with North Korean affairs Wednesday said there were 60 confirmed public executions in the North last year, more than triple the number of 2009. “Since last year, the regime has put a notice on bulletin boards warning that those who use Chinese-made mobile phones or illegally circulate dollars face public execution, the source said.
Another source familiar with North Korean affairs said, “It’s rumored that Kim Jong-un has called for ‘gunshots across the country.’ Kim Jong-il did exactly the same thing when he took power.”
Jang Se-yul of the North Korean People’s Liberation Front, a group of former North Korean soldiers and officers who defected to South Korea, said, “In Chongjin, North Hamgyong Province alone last year, at least six people were executed publicly on charges of human trafficking and robbery. People are executed publicly for crimes that would have sent them to prison for just a few years in the past.”
It also noted that the Workers Party had included a new clause in its regulation ”to oppose and fight against anti-socialist trends.”
A South Korean intelligence official said the phrase refers to elements of capitalism that have flowed in from South Korea. “The regime has paved the way to publicly execute even people who watch South Korean soap operas or dress in South Korean style, branding them as anti-party elements,” he said.
But it is not only soap operas and South Korean fashion that is leading to the increase in executions. The NK authorities are cracking down on people caught picking up and reading South Korean propaganda. According to the Choson Ilbo (January 24, 2011), 500 residents – including the family members of South Korean prisoners of war – were assembled to watch two executions.
The victims were a 45-year-old woman accused of reading a South Korean propaganda leaflet and failing to notify authorities and a high-ranking regional military officer charged with pocketing the dollar bills that were sent along with the leaflets.
Not sure how much that North Korean officer was pocketing but if you remember in 2008 (Marmot’s Hole – Dollars from Heaven and Park Sang-hak):
Park says he has sent nearly 2 million anti-Kim leaflets north by balloon. Since April, he says, each of the water-proof leaflets borne by his balloons is attached to a U.S. dollar bill.” According to Park: “Because of my balloons, the North Koreans are rounding up anyone with one dollar.”
But executions aren’t the only way the North Koreans are trying to discourage people from picking up the South Korean propaganda:
North Korean defectors said anyone who picks up an anti-communist leaflet must notify the authorities on pain of severe punishment. They said North Koreans are taught from a young age that eating South Korean-made cookies causes gut rot while picking up pens or lighters made in the South will make the hands decay.
Not All The Executed Are Innocent
Legitimate criminals are also being executed. According to this article in the Daily NK (January 18, 2011) – an 18-year-old North Korean high school student killed his parents with a cooking knife because they did not give him money for school. Apparently school in North Korea is not as free as we thought:
North Korea’s educational system is nominally free, but the reality is not so. Even though students do not need to pay for their education, they have to pay for all kinds of items; to support the army, raise rabbits, buy text books, and maintain school buildings and more.
If students cannot provide the money, they are bullied by teachers and other students. In that case, it is hard for them to continue to go school. According to defectors, there are even many cases where the wages of teachers are covered with money offered by students.
A defector from Pyongyang said, “In schools, a teacher orders a class president to collect money from students and those who don’t give it tend to get hit,” and added, “Students know very well that if parents don’t give the money, they will get a scolding from the teacher and bullied by other students. Therefore, the numbers of those who don’t go to school constantly increases.”
This heinous crime took place in November when it was getting cold and it appears that he will be dead in the spring as it gets warmer.
The Pyongyang source added, “After being sent back to Pyongyang, he went through a two month investigation and trial and was sentenced to death. Now he is in the No. 4 Reeducation Camp in Kangdong, Pyongyang.”
The source said that there is a rumor that once the weather gets warmer, a public execution will be held, explaining, “Even though he is young, since he killed his parents and attempted to defect, he was sentenced to death.”
For those interested -Daily NK has this review of a book dealing with life in the North Korean prison camps.
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