UN: North Korea worst human rights violator DW 09/18/2025

"The people of North Korea endure the harshest repression in the world, with the death penalty reportedly used for sharing foreign media, including popular South Korean television dramas, according to a new report from the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR). The 14-page document detailed how ordinary North Korean people's lives have become significantly more difficult in the last decade. The report was based on interviews with around 300 people who have managed to leave North Korea,"

"It also identified three laws "that criminalize access to unauthorized foreign information and prohibit the consumption or dissemination of information (through, for example, publications, music and movies) from 'hostile' nations and the use of linguistic expressions that do not conform with prescribed socialist ideology and culture." "These laws raise serious concerns of unlawful restrictions on the right to freedom of opinion and expression," it added."

""They also provide for severe punishments, including the death penalty, for protected speech." The use of the death penalty for watching foreign movies or listening to music from South Korea is more severe than murder and "contrary to the right to life," the report said. James Heenan, head of the UN human rights office for North Korea, said that an unspecified number of people had already been executed under the new laws for distributing foreign TV series, including the popular K-Dramas from its southern neighbor."

People in North Korea endure extreme repression and severe restrictions on political, social and economic freedoms. The government maintains total control over the population, limiting freedom of opinion and expression. Three laws criminalize access to unauthorized foreign information and prohibit consumption or dissemination of publications, music and movies from 'hostile' nations, and forbid linguistic expressions that deviate from prescribed socialist ideology and culture. Penalties include severe punishments and the death penalty for protected speech, such as watching foreign films or listening to South Korean music. Around 300 people who left North Korea were interviewed, while the government in Pyongyang refused access to UN investigators and rejected the results.

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