United Nations Special Rapporteur Elizabeth Salmón has issued a stark warning regarding the worsening human rights situation in North Korea, highlighting an alarming expansion in the scope and application of the death penalty as a tool for social, political, and ideological control.
In an interview with VOA, Salmón discussed her newly submitted report to the U.N. General Assembly, which focuses on the right-to-life violations occurring in North Korea, including the expansive use of the death penalty, preventable deaths in state custody, and the lack of protection for North Korean military personnel deployed to fight Ukraine alongside Russian troops.
“It addresses arbitrary deprivation of life—including the death penalty and deaths in custody—as well as the state’s obligation to protect the lives of military personnel,” she told VOA. “This report is scheduled to be submitted to the Third Committee of the U.N. General Assembly,” she added. Special rapporteurs traditionally present their reports during the committee sessions held in New York from October through November.
Death penalty use
In her annual report to the UN General Assembly, Salmón documented that North Korea has expanded capital punishment far beyond intentional murder to include ‘non-violent and sociopolitical offenses’.
New additions and amendments recently approved to the North Korean Constitution by the Supreme People’s Assembly, have raised the number of capital crimes under the Criminal Law from 8 to 16, while seven standalone statutes now authorize the death penalty. Among these are laws penalizing ‘the consumption and distribution of foreign media, speaking or writing in South Korean-style speech, drug-related offenses, and non-compliance with emergency epidemic or disaster regulations."
"Information received by the special rapporteur indicates that the enjoyment of the right to life continues to face grave challenges in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," Salmón stated in her report, referring to North Korea by its formal name. She emphasized that executions carried out for offenses failing to meet the international threshold of "most serious crimes"—reserved strictly for intentional killing—constitute “arbitrary deprivation of life and may amount to crimes against humanity.”
Women’s treatment
The report further highlighted severe gender dimensions and human rights violations against women, noting cases where she tracked 11 women who defected to China, were forcibly repatriated, and subsequently faced severe penalties—with two reportedly executed and the rest imprisoned.
Salmón reiterated that victims of human trafficking “must not be criminalized or punished.”
“Even if these women are viewed as undocumented migrants, we must respect our human rights obligations regarding their safety and survival,” she told VOA. “I wanted to make the international community aware that the situation for North Korean women—especially those sentenced to death—is extremely dire.”
Pressure on military personnel
She also raised grave concerns over deaths in custody caused by torture, overwork, and starvation, as well as the deployment of roughly 14,000 North Korean troops to the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, where over 2,000 soldiers have reportedly been killed and young adolescents face intense pressure to sacrifice their lives.
“In my latest report, I emphasized that the lives of these soldiers must be protected and that they must be provided with the necessary information, training, and equipment,” she said in her VOA interview. “There is also some very concerning news: young high school students are beginning to believe that they must die for their country. This is highly abnormal. Children must be protected.”
Addressing her ongoing monitoring work, Salmón told VOA hat there is currently insufficient information regarding the safety, protection, and human rights conditions of the two North Korean prisoners of war recently transferred from Ukraine to South Korea.
She underscored the critical need to protect their privacy and ensure they are not exposed to public curiosity, warning that public exposure could endanger their families remaining in North Korea. Furthermore, she stressed the absolute applicability of the principle of non-refoulement to ensure individuals are not sent to places where they face torture or abuse.
She also emphasized that human rights issues must remain a core component of any future diplomatic engagement or summits—such as potential talks between the United States and North Korea—stressing that viewing human rights as an obstacle to peace has consistently proven ineffective.