Capital punishment in North Korea

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Capital punishment is a legal form of punishment in North Korea and uses it for many offences, such as treason, espionage, political dissidence, defection, consumption of media not approved by the government, and proselytizing religious ideals that contradict practised ideology, with current knowledge depending heavily on the account of defectors. Executions are carried out by firing squad in public.

According to the Daily NK, a pro-democracy online newspaper set up by North Korean exiles in South Korea, a South Korean aid agency reported that a 74 year-old stone cutting factory chief in Suncheon, South Pyongan was executed on October 5, 2007 in front of 170,000 people in Suncheon Stadium for "hiding his father’s credentials and promoting himself as a patriot."^[1] Fox News claimed the agency's report said he faced a firing squad for making international phone calls.^[2] Six people were crushed to death and thirty-four others injured in a stampede as they left the stadium.^[1][2]

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