North Korea publicly executed 80 people over South Korea movies, owning Bibles

Reportedly 80 people were publicly executed in North Korea for watching South Korean movies or possessing a Bible.  The South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo reported that the “criminals” were put to death in seven cities across North Korea in the first known large-scale public executions by the Kim Jong-un regime.

A source told the paper that about 10 people were killed in each city. Eight people, their heads covered with white bags, were tied to stakes at a local stadium in the city of Wonsan, before authorities shot them with a machine gun.

“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 afterward,” the JoongAng Ilbo source said.

Most of the Wonsan victims were charged with watching or illegally trafficking South Korean videos, involvement in prostitution, or possessing a Bible. 

Relatives or accomplices of the execution victims implicated in their alleged crimes were sent to prison camps. 

There appears to be no real motive of the executions, but one government official noted they occurred in cities that are centers of economic development. Wonsan is a port city that Kim is reportedly planning to make a tourist destination by building an airport, hotels and a ski resort on Mount Masik.

The LA Times noted that in August,”Kim was reported to have ordered the executions of a dozen entertainers from the Unhasu Orchestra and the Wangjaesan Light Music Band, including ex-girlfriend Hyon Song Wol. Chosun Ilbo, another leading South Korean daily, said the troupe members reportedly filmed themselves having sex and sold the videos on the black market to earn money.”