Capital punishment

Capital punishment

Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...

is a legal form of punishment

Punishment

Punishment is the authoritative imposition of something negative or unpleasant on a person or animal in response to behavior deemed wrong by an individual or group....

 in North Korea

North Korea

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...

and is used for many offences, such as armed robbery, murder, embezzlement, treason, espionage, drugs trafficking and manufacturing, tax fraud, mutiny, desertion, 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

Execution by firing squad

Execution by firing squad, sometimes called fusillading , is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war.Execution by shooting is a fairly old practice...

 in public.

According to the Daily NK

Daily NK

The Daily NK is an online newspaper focusing on issues relating to North Korea. The site, run by opponents of the North Korean government, is based in South Korea and regularly reports stories from inside North Korea via a network of informants inside the country.Founded in December 2004, the Daily...

, a pro-democracy online newspaper

Online newspaper

An online newspaper, also known as a web newspaper, is a newspaper that exists on the World Wide Web or Internet, either separately or as an online version of a printed periodical....

 set up by North Korean exiles in South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

, a South Korean aid agency reported that a 74 year-old stone cutting factory chief in Suncheon

Sunchon, North Korea

Sunch'ŏn is a city in South Pyongan province, North Korea. It has an estimated population of 437,000, and is home to various manufacturing plants...

, 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." Fox News claimed the agency's report said he faced a firing squad for making international phone calls. Six people were crushed to death and thirty-four others injured in a stampede as they left the stadium.

Crimes Punishable by Death

Capital punishment is applied flexibly to a wide range of crimes in North Korea, some of which are punishable by death in no other judicial system in the world. Capital punishment in North Korea can be imposed for crimes against national symbols and treasures, such as insulting the government, consuming the media without consent from the government, tax fraud, embezzling from state funds, defection, and political dissidence. It can also be imposed for crimes against the state or government, such as corruption, treason, mutiny, waging war against the state, desertion, espionage, and attempting to overthrow the government or state. It can also be imposed for crimes against people such as homicide, rape, kidnapping, and attempted homicide. It rare instances it can also be imposed for certain property crimes such as aggravated theft, or armed robbery.

Method

The sole method of execution in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is a public firing squad.