[Yonhap News Photo]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's appetite for executions remained unabated with his reign of terror extended across the society at large as public complaints grew this year over economic woes aggravated by tight international sanctions.
The reclusive totalitarian country has used torture, incarceration, and capital punishment to stifle dissent. Public executions have been common and favored by North Korean leaders as an effective tool to control people under their thumb.
So far this year, North Korea has executed about 60 ordinary people in public places, far higher than an annual average of 30 under Kim who took power following the sudden death of his father in December 2011, the South's Yonhap news agency said, citing unidentified sources.
In February, dozens of people, including relatives of North Korean defectors, were arrested and executed on espionage charges, Yonhap said, adding ten other people were executed by firing squad in April in the northern border city of Hyesan for arranging cross-border defections.
Along with public executions, Kim has also stepped up a crackdown on social dissatisfaction with the mass mobilization of people for forced labor, Yonhap said, adding unauthorized leave, desertion, and criminal activities have been severely punished.
In June, Kim kicked off a 200-day campaign aimed at jump-starting a new five-economic plan, forcing people to work extra hours at construction sites and other places. Experts said the lengthy campaign has fueled public fatigue and complaints.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch has denounced such campaigns as mass exercises in forced labor that use political coercion to extract economic gains.
More ordinary North Koreans have expressed dissatisfaction as they were forced to work harder and donate more money to the regime in the face of economic hardships, Yonhap said.
The agency said Kim has ordered tighter control of its people in March, saying that if North Koreans are allowed to have more free time, they would only think about how to make more money and voice complaints about the regime.
Kim stressed the crackdown is important as such deserters are criminals suspected of stealing classified information and delivering it to South Korea, it said.
There have been sporadic reports of purges and executions involving senior party, government and military officials in North Korea. The most notorious case was reported in December 2013, when Kim executed his influential uncle Jang Song-thaek on charges including treason and corruption.
South Korea's spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, said in a report in July that Kim appeared to be leading a stressful life, probably due to constant worries about his personal security.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
