South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper
reported that the co-ordinated public executions took place in seven separate
cities earlier this month. In one case, the local authorities rounded up 10,000
people, including children, and forced them to watch, it reported
Those put to death were found guilty by the state of minor
misdemeanours, including watching videos of South Korean television programs or
possessing a Bible.
Sources told the paper that witnesses saw eight people tied
to stakes in the Shinpoong Stadium, in Kangwon Province, before having sacks
placed over their heads and being executed by soldiers firing machine guns. ''I
heard from the residents that they watched in terror as the corpses were so
riddled by machine-gun fire that they were hard to identify afterwards,'' a
source said.
Advertisement
Relatives and friends of the victims were reportedly sent to
prison camps, a tactic that North Korea frequently uses to dissuade anyone from
breaking the law.
''Reports on public executions across the country would be
certain to have a chilling effect on the rest of the people,'' Daniel Pinkston,
a North Korea analyst with the International Crisis Group in Seoul, said.
''All these people want to do is to survive and for their
families to survive. The incentives for not breaking the law are very clear
now.''
The mass executions could signal a broader crackdown on any
hints of discontent among the population - and even rival groups in Pyongyang -
against the rule of Kim Jong-un, who came to power after the death of his
father in December 2011.
In a new report, the Rand Corporation think-tank claims that
Mr Kim survived an assassination attempt and that his personal security has
since been stepped up dramatically. The report concurs with South Korean
intelligence sources that stated in March that a faction within the North
Korean army had been involved in an attempt on Mr Kim's life in November last
year.
Telegraph, London
No comments:
Post a Comment