2007-06-14 12:11:00 -
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea has increased its public executions against cell phone users and those who circulate outside information in the communist country, a South Korean government think tank said Thursday.
The phenomenon of executions of those who «circulate South Korean leaflets and sell videos and use cell phones are on the
rise,» the South's government-affiliated Korea Institute for National Unification think tank said in a white paper on the North's human rights conditions. No exact figures were given.
North Koreans are officially banned from communicating with the outside world but some of them listen to foreign news and use cell phones through Chinese communication networks, according to North Korean defectors in South Korea. The use of cell phones in North Korea is banned though some are smuggled into the North by Chinese who have links with South Koreans.
The North has been struggling to prevent outside information from seeping into the country and believes the influx of information could possibly lead to the overthrow of the reclusive regime.
«The North carries out public executions regularly to maintain social order by creating an atmosphere of fear,» said the institute.
Despite the unspecified increase in executions of certain people, North Korea has reduced the frequency of public executions from every month to each quarter due to harsh international criticism, the institute said.
The communist country insists it does not violate human rights, but it has long been accused of imposing the death penalty for political reasons, holding thousands in prison camps, torturing border-crossers and severely restricting freedom of expression and religion.
The institute also said the North has kept intact a system of family guilt by association for political prisoners in an attempt to keep in check any challenges and resistance to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
Kim, who wields absolute power in the communist state, tolerates no dissent and demands unquestioning allegiance from its people.
