Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unconditionally because it is a violation of the right to life and the ultimate form of cruel and inhuman punishment. It urges the North Korean Government to commute all death sentences and to consider abolishing the death penalty for all crimes. Pending such measures, it also calls on the government to end the practice of public executions of prisoners. Amnesty International is concerned at reports that the death penalty is widely used in North Korea as a penalty for a variety of crimes, including political offences. Witnesses at public announcements of death sentences, former detainees and visitors to North Korea report that the death penalty is used frequently, and has been increasingly used in recent years against alleged economic offenders.
Reports suggest that dozens of prisoners are executed each year.
In spite of repeated requests, the North Korean Government has failed to provide any official statistics on the number of death sentences imposed and executions carried out. Some of the offences subject to penalty of death, according to the Criminal Law of 1987, are not clearly defined. Executions are carried out either by shooting or hanging. In some cases, prisoners sentenced to death are displayed at public meetings attended by workers and students, including school-age children. At these meetings, the alleged crimes of the prisoners, and their sentence, are read out by officials.