A recent United Nations report has exposed the harsh reality of life in North Korea, where citizens are being executed for distributing foreign media, including popular South Korean television dramas.
The UN Human Rights Office report, released on September 12, 2025, highlights the severe restrictions imposed on the North Korean population, making it the most restrictive country in the world.
According to the report, based on interviews with over 300 witnesses and victims who had fled the country, the Kim dynasty’s tech-enabled state repression has intensified over the past decade, resulting in increased suffering, repression, and fear among the population over foreign media in North Korea.
James Heenan, head of the UN Human Rights Office for North Korea, stated that the number of executions for both normal and political crimes had increased since COVID-era restrictions.
An unspecified number of people have already been executed under new laws imposing the death penalty for distributing foreign TV series, including popular K-Dramas from South Korea.
The clampdown has been aided by the expansion of “mass surveillance” systems through technological advances, which have subjected citizens to “control in all parts of life” over the past 10 years.
Heenan also reported that children were being made to work in forced labor, including so-called “shock brigades” for tough sectors such as coal mining and construction.
“They’re often children from the lower level of society, because they’re the ones who can’t bribe their way out of it, and these shock brigades are engaged in often very hazardous and dangerous work,” he said.
The report concludes that North Korea is now “the most restrictive country in the world” in terms of personal freedoms, with virtually no tolerance for access to outside information or dissenting views.
In response to the report, UN rights chief Volker Turk said, “If the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] continues on its current trajectory, the population will be subjected to more suffering, brutal repression and fear.”
The report also highlighted the expansion of forced labour, including the recruitment of poor families into “shock brigades” for hazardous construction or mining work, where deaths are frequent but officially glorified as sacrifices to Kim Jong Un.
In recent years, even orphans and street children have been mobilized. At least four political prison camps remain in operation, where detainees face torture, starvation, and death from overwork.
Conditions in regular prisons have shown only “limited improvements,” the report noted, such as a slight decrease in guard violence.
The UN has urged North Korea to abolish political prison camps, end executions, and introduce human rights education.
Volker Turk said, “Our reporting shows a clear and strong desire for change, particularly among North Korea’s young people.” as the population of these youngsters find the foreign media policy unacceptable.
The UN has also called for the international community to refer North Korea’s human rights situation to the International Criminal Court.
However, such a move would require UN Security Council approval, which is unlikely given China and Russia’s consistent vetoes of new sanctions since 2019.
Escapees recounted public executions by firing squad, staged to instill fear. Kang Gyuri, who fled in 2023, told newsmen that three of her friends were executed for possessing South Korean dramas-foreign media in North Korea.
She said one 23-year-old acquaintance was sentenced to death in a trial where he was grouped with drug offenders. “These crimes are treated the same now,” she said, adding that since 2020, fear has only deepened.
The report also found that living conditions and human rights have worsened since Kim Jong Un turned away from diplomacy with the West in 2019 to focus on weapons development.
Almost all escapees said food scarcity had intensified, with three meals a day described as a “luxury.” Many recalled people dying of hunger during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The UN report’s findings paint a grim picture of life in North Korea, where citizens are subjected to extreme restrictions, forced labor, and executions for sharing foreign media.
The international community must take action to address these human rights abuses and hold North Korea accountable for its actions.
As Volker Turk said, “If the DPRK continues on its current trajectory, the population will be subjected to more suffering, brutal repression and fear.”
The situation in North Korea demands urgent attention and action from the international community to protect the rights and lives of its citizens over strict foreign media policy.