North Korea is one of the world’s most repressive states, where civic space is rated ‘closed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. The government restricts all civil and political liberties for its citizens, including freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, association and religion. It prohibits all organised political opposition, independent media, civil society and trade unions.
In May 2026, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said that ongoing gross human rights violations in the country, some of which may amount to crimes against humanity, continue to be documented by his office. Through documentation work, the Human Rights Office is preserving and analysing information that is essential for any truth, justice and accountability efforts. The UN Human Rights Office in Seoul is also working to ensure that the suffering of victims and their families is not erased, including through memorialisation and truth-telling.
Almost 11 million people in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, known more commonly as North Korea, are undernourished - more than 40% of the population. North Korea faces a chronic humanitarian crisis driven by a combination of food insecurity, malnutrition, weak healthcare systems, natural disasters, economic isolation, and severe restrictions on human rights. Humanitarian organisations face major operational challenges in North Korea. These include limited access for international staff and strict government controls on monitoring and aid delivery.
On 28th April 2026, the Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG), a human rights documentation and advocacy NGO, released its report, “Mapping North Korea’s Executions Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The report provides a comprehensive look at the current status of executions and death sentencings, as well as a map of 46 execution sites during the 13 years of Kim Jong-un’s rule. It noted that the largest increase in executions was aimed at suppressing ideological change, including South Korean culture and religion:
In recent months, the crackdown on foreign video content has persisted. Two university students from South Hwanghae province were publicly executed over South Korean videos while youths were detained for watching banned videos in South Pyongan and North Pyongan provinces. There have been increased inspections of devices in universities after circumvention technology was found. Phone surveillance was ramped up in North Pyongan province while DVD owners are being forced to register their devices with the state. A student was arrested for using an underground app to access banned information while authorities banned border gatherings and talk of South Korea.
Expression
Two university students publicly executed over South Korean videos
Two young men from a university in Haeju, South Hwanghae province, were executed in late May 2026 after they were arrested for distributing banned videos, including South Korean content.
According to Daily NK, the two university students had organised a secret club that regularly watched South Korean videos and other banned content, then systematically shared the material with fellow students. The pair also wrote and kept notes criticising government policies, drawing on outside materials about development in capitalist societies. These writings put them on the radar of the National Intelligence Agency, North Korea’s secret police.
The authorities ruled that their actions amounted to a malicious attempt to subvert the state. The two received death sentences after rushed legal proceedings. Authorities forced student representatives from the university and provincial officials of the Socialist Patriotic Youth League, the ruling party’s organisation for young people, to attend.
Their bodies were not returned to their families. Witnesses say they were roughly handled at the site and secretly buried.
Youths detained for watching banned videos
In July 2026, it was reported that the authorities had arrested two young men in Pyongsong, South Pyongan province, for watching K-drama, the South Korean dramas widely popular among North Korean people, along with other videos the state brands as impure recordings.
A source in South Pyongan province told Daily NK that the Ministry of Social Security arrested the two young men in June 2026 after a friend reported them to the Ministry of Social Security for non-socialist behavior, a catchall term North Korean authorities use for conduct they consider a threat to socialist ideology, including consuming foreign media.
The two arrested young men then underwent intensive investigation, including a search of their homes.
In the same month, four unemployed young men in Sinuiju, North Pyongan province, were sentenced to labour training after North Korean authorities caught them watching South Korean and Chinese films and dramas during a surprise inspection of a private home.
They were arrested after a three-member team enforcing North Korea’s crackdown on “non-socialist and anti-socialist” behaviour burst into a home where the men had gathered in broad daylight to watch South Korean and Chinese movies and dramas.
Increased inspections in universities after circumvention technology found
Authorities have ordered intensive inspections at universities nationwide since August 2026, including in Pyongyang, after seven students at Kim Chaek University of Technology were arrested by the National Intelligence Agency for developing new circumvention technology to bypass the state’s internet firewall, watch South Korean videos and distribute them.
Central authorities demanded harsh inspections and ordered thorough searches of laptops and mobile phones used by students, as well as any other electronic devices they might be hiding.
Authorities also instructed officials to closely monitor students who had previously been caught violating rules or who behaved suspiciously, as well as students who moved around in groups, and to ruthlessly arrest anyone showing even minor signs of suspicious activity.
Following the directive, the State Intelligence Bureau, the Ministry of Social Security, the anti-socialist inspection group (a task force that investigates behaviour deemed a threat to socialist ideology) and university party committees have all been mobilised to examine the operating systems on students’ laptops and mobile phones, digging up records that had already been deleted.
Phone surveillance ramped up in North Pyongan province
In June 2026, it was reported that the authorities in North Pyongan province had sharply intensified phone surveillance, intercepting both landline and mobile calls to crack down on traders conducting business across provincial boundaries. The crackdown has prompted a growing number of people to avoid phone calls altogether, communicate only in person, or use coded language when calls are unavoidable.
North Korea’s National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the country’s primary domestic counterintelligence service responsible for monitoring citizens for political and economic crimes, has long conducted communications surveillance. But sources say the intensity of monitoring has recently reached levels that are being felt acutely in everyday life.
For traders whose livelihoods depend on phone-based coordination of goods, transport, and payments, quitting calls entirely is not realistic. The concern is heightened by mobile phones specifically, which can be tracked by location in addition to being wiretapped. In response, some North Korean people have begun trying to obtain SIM cards registered in other people’s names in order to make calls without being identified.
DVD owners forced to register their devices with the state
In July 2026, it was reported that the authorities are now requiring DVD player owners to register their devices with state-run service centres. According to Daily NK, the move is part of a broader push to tighten media surveillance.
Officials have framed the measure as an effort to block the viewing of illegally copied videos. But internally, some see it as a way to strengthen ideological control over North Korean people.
Since June 2026, technical service centres in Tanchon have been registering users of the Mokran High-Definition DVD Player, a domestically produced device. Tanchon is a mining city in South Hamgyong province. Technical service centres are state-run facilities that handle electronic repairs and maintenance. The centres are linking each user’s personal information with device data to build an integrated management system.
North Korea has steadily expanded crackdowns on the viewing and distribution of illegal foreign videos in recent years. Authorities are increasingly treating any unregistered DVD player as evidence of intent to break the law.
Student arrested for using underground app to access banned information
In July 2026, authorities caught a university student in Hamhung, South Hamgyong province, using illicit software that opens access to unauthorised foreign electronic materials. Demand for outside information is growing beyond simple entertainment, driven by North Koreans seeking research and technical knowledge unavailable through state channels.
The software, known as the Ryongaksan Program (named for Ryongaksan, a mountain in Pyongyang), has spread rapidly across North Korea in 2026. Authorities have launched an investigation into the program’s sellers and distribution network.
The Ryongaksan Program lets users search and view external electronic materials stored within it, even while offline. The program reportedly contains entertainment content alongside a large volume of foreign academic papers and technical materials. It is spreading quickly among university students, graduate students and technicians.
North Korean people generally cannot freely access the internet. Access to domestic intranets such as Gwangmyong and Mirae (North Korea’s tightly restricted, closed-loop domestic computer networks) is also strictly limited in scope and eligibility.
Assembly
Authorities ban border gatherings and talk of South Korea
In June 2026, it was reported that North Korea has intensified controls on gatherings and private conversations in border areas, ordering that groups of three or more people be broken up and that anyone who discusses South Korea in groups faces legal punishment.
The National Intelligence Agency, North Korea’s primary domestic intelligence and secret police agency, issued instructions through neighborhood watch units barring Sinuiju residents and people in Uiju county from gathering in groups of three or more without a clear purpose. Social gatherings were also specifically prohibited under the order.
A separate source in Jagang province confirmed that a similar directive reached NIS offices in that province’s border areas. That order specifically instructed local security officials to crack down on speech, directing them to legally punish anyone found discussing South Korea in a group setting. The prohibition extends beyond South Korean entertainment content such as dramas, films and music to include any mention of South Korean society or the daily lives of South Korean people.
According to Daily NK, the measures may reflect anxieties that go beyond routine social control. Border areas are inherently more exposed to defection networks, smuggling routes, and the flow of outside information from China, making them a persistent target of heightened surveillance. The timing also coincides with a broader expansion of North Korea-China trade, which has accelerated the circulation of foreign content, including South Korean video and audio media, through border communities.