Human Rights and Democracy - Official Documents

developed juvenile justice system. Ordinary citizens are not able to get legal advice
from defence lawyers, and many endure public trials.
Death penalty
Executions, including public executions and extra-judicial killings, continue to be
reported. Some testimonies indicate that the frequency of public executions has
increased again, although the DPRK does not make any public announcements,
perhaps in an attempt to hide the number of executions from international attention.
Prisons and detention issues
According to accounts by defectors, torture and beatings are still widely practised in
the DPRK’s correctional centres, labour-training camps, collection points and
detention centres. Most inmates in these camps endure inadequate meals, hard
labour and lack of medical care. Some 150,000 to 200,000 political prisoners are
reported currently to be serving terms in DPRK camps.
A lack of transparency and independent verification mean that we are unable to
assess the situation in the DPRK’s prisons.
Human rights defenders
We are not aware of any human rights defenders operating within the DPRK, and
ordinary citizens have little understanding of human rights.
Freedom of expression
The DPRK authorities enforce strict bans on listening to radio or watching TV
programmes broadcast from outside the country. The use of mobile telephones in
the border regions is restricted, and circulating or watching foreign DVDs, particularly
those from South Korea, is forbidden. These restrictions have been enforced more
strictly in recent years, and include fines, forced relocation or imprisonment. Access
to information from outside the DPRK remains limited.
In December, at the request of our Embassy, the DPRK authorities showed the
British film “Bend it Like Beckham” on national TV. It exposed the DPRK population
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