13 March 2009 :

seventy-six percent of surveyed North Korean defectors say they witnessed public executions in their homeland, South Korea's National Human Rights Commission said. The rights watchdog released the latest report on the human rights situation in the North based on interviews of defectors who escaped the country during the past two years.
In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 defectors who escaped the North in 2007 and 2008, while 122 defectors filled out questionnaires.
North Korea punishes anti-government activity, circulation of outside information, theft and illicit sale of state property, robbery, human trafficking and murder with public execution, the report said. However, defectors say the frequency of executions has gone down since 2000, according to the report.