North Korea executed two women, Ri, 39, and Kang, 43, on August 31, after a brief public trial in Chongjin. According to the human rights group Gyeore’eol Unification Solidarity, the women were accused of helping North Koreans in China escape to South Korea.
Both women were part of a group of 500 defectors forcibly repatriated from China in October 2023. While nine other women received life sentences, Ri and Kang were executed after a one-hour trial, held in a marketplace and witnessed by hundreds of residents.
The execution has drawn international outrage, with human rights groups calling on China to stop repatriating North Korean defectors. Many of these defectors, primarily women, are sold into human trafficking networks in China.
Advocacy groups argue that forced repatriations violate international laws, as defectors face severe punishment, including execution, upon returning to North Korea.
