It has been reported that a North Korean fishing boat captain has been publicly executed because he listened to a radio station being broadcast from abroad. The radio station in question is reported as being 'Radio Free Asia', a United States government–funded, non-profit international broadcasting corporation that broadcasts and publishes online news, information and commentary to readers and listeners in East Asia.
According to Radio Free Asia, a source told them that a 40-year-old man was executed for listening to one of their broadcasts while he was sailing his ship in North Korean waters. His execution took place after he was placed against a wall in a town centre and shot by firing-squad.
His official crime was "subversion against the party".
An inside source in North Korea told Radio Free Asia:
"In mid-October, a captain of a fishing boat from Chongjin was executed by firing squad, on charges of listening to Radio Free Asia regularly over a long period of time. The provincial security department defined his crime as an attempt of subversion against the party. They publicly shot him at the base in front of 100 other captains and managers of the facility's fish processing plants. They also dismissed or discharged party officials, the base's administration and the security officers who allowed Choi to work at sea."
They added:
"It seems that the authorities made an example out of Choi to imprint on the residents that listening to outside radio stations means death."
A refugee who had previously escaped the hermit kingdom spoke of how many North Koreans get information about the outside world via radio, they said:
"We can get a variety of content from CDs and memory sticks, but what North Koreans most want to know is news from the outside. Residents can get many outside broadcasts, but they prefer Radio Free Asia because it can be heard clearly in the Korean language."
North Korea is regarded as the most isolated and illiberal state in the world with strict dictatorial powers pushed on their citizens who are required to treat the leadership of the nation as god-like figures. Citizens are routinely arrested, executed, imprisoned and punished for any actions that could be seen as even remotely undermining the power and authority of the state. Hundreds-of-thousands are thought to be held in concentration camps and forced labour camps and leaving the country is strictly forbidden.
Due to the very secretive nature of the state, much of what goes on within the country is open to speculation and rumour. In recent years, North Korea has developed nuclear weapons, which it regards as essential to its survival. The country has been at unofficial war with South Korea for almost 70 years and regards the United States, and almost every other Western nation, as its mortal enemies.
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