North Korea's human rights situation has alarmingly worsened over the past decade, marked by an expanded scope of capital punishment and intensified enforcement against those accessing foreign media, reveals a new assessment by the UN Human Rights Office for the Human Rights Council. The report, published on Friday, highlights a disturbing rise in the use of the death penalty since 2015, with laws now making the possession of foreign films a potential capital offense.

Witnesses have reported that public trials and executions are frequently used as tools of intimidation, aimed at instilling fear within communities. The regime's technological reach has also grown, with inspection teams conducting abrupt raids and monitoring communications more extensively than ever before.

The UN's findings also shed light on the systematic use of forced labor across various sectors in North Korea. Prisons, military units, and so-called “shock brigades” involve citizens—including many orphans and street children—in perilous labor at coal mines and construction sites. The report describes how students are routinely removed from classrooms to toil in fields, with their labor misleadingly described by officials as part of their educational curriculum. Tragically, fatalities during these labor mobilizations are publicly lauded as sacrifices for the nation's leader rather than mourned as preventable losses.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk commented on the dire situation, stating, “What we have witnessed is a lost decade.” He warned of ongoing and potentially worsening suffering, brutal repression, and pervasive fear among the North Korean population if Pyongyang does not alter its course.

Based on interviews with 314 escapees and corroborated by both UN and civil society sources, the report paints a grim picture of a society under relentless surveillance, deprived of the most basic freedoms. According to one witness, the regime has “strengthened the crackdowns” specifically to “block the people’s eyes and ears,” illustrating an unparalleled level of restriction in today's world.

Earlier this year, another UN report underscored the need to hold North Korea accountable for its escalating human rights abuses. Additionally, North Korea's foreign policy moves, including sending soldiers to Russia under a mutual defense pact amid the Ukraine conflict, have not only exacerbated the suffering of its citizens but also heightened regional insecurity.

The report concludes with a call to Pyongyang to dismantle political prison camps, abolish the death penalty, restore family contacts divided by the Korean conflict, cease torture in detention, and clarify the status of numerous abductees and individuals who have disappeared. It also urges the international community to intensify efforts for accountability, including a long-overdue referral to the International Criminal Court and to prevent the forced repatriation of North Koreans who face severe risks of abuse.