Contact Admin. Human rights issues included: DPRK overseas contract workers, working on behalf of the government, also faced conditions of forced labor. The government took no credible steps to prosecute officials who committed human rights abuses. Impunity continued to be a widespread problem. Defector reports noted instances in which the government executed political prisoners, opponents of the government, forcibly returned asylum seekers, government officials, and others accused of crimes.
Defectors also reported that the government carried out infanticide, or required mothers to commit infanticide in cases of political prisoners, persons with disabilities, women who were raped by government officials or prison guards, and mothers repatriated from China.
NGOs and press reports indicated that border guards had orders to shoot to kill individuals leaving the country without permission, and prison guards were under orders to shoot to kill those attempting to escape from political prison camps. On June 22, a firing squad reportedly executed army lieutenant general Hyon Ju Song for abusing authority, profiting the enemy, and engaging in antiparty acts.
The women claimed to have been tricked by four agents working on behalf of the North Korean government into fatally poisoning Kim at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in February The state also subjected private citizens to public executions. According to the Institute for National Security Strategy, the state held public executions from to , including executions of government officials between and A survey found that 64 percent of defectors had witnessed public executions.
Defectors reported going to public executions on school field trips. One defector claimed to have witnessed the public execution of a man who stole copper from a factory and a woman who had come into contact with a missionary while in China. During the year there was no progress in the investigation into the whereabouts of 12 Japanese citizens believed to have been abducted by the DPRK. The DPRK continued to deny its involvement in the kidnappings.
