North Korea's Execution Surge: Cultural Crackdown & Kim's Daughter

0:00It's April 28th. Welcome to Global News Today, powered by AI and Connected Worldwide. A new report out of Seoul shows North Korea ramped up executions big time after sealing its borders for COVID with 148 people put, to death in 60 cases from 2020 to 2024. That's a sharp jump from just 41 over the prior five years. The study comes from a civic group called the Transitional Justice Working Group. They pulled this from chats with 880 North Korean defectors in South Korea, plus satellite pics of execution spots. But they stress it's not the full picture. The top reason now? Breaking rules on foreign culture and religion. Like catching South Korean shows or movies. Back before the pandemic, murder topped the list. Political crimes jumped to from 4 to 28 cases as Kim Jong-un cracked down on any descent during lockdowns. And these cultural busts hit inland spots, not just borders, meaning that media

1:00spreading nationwide. North Korea is easing up a bit, letting folks return from abroad and restarting trains with China. Still, defectors are way down. 223 this year versus 1275 back in 2015. With talk of Kim's daughter Ju A stepping up, experts warned executions could spike even more to Clear House for her crew. No word yet from Pyongyang on the report.