SEOUL — Video footage of the public execution
of North Korean men at Hoeryong, North Hamkyong Province in late February, has been secured by a Japanese TV station, according to sources here. One of the two men executed was from the factory where an anti-Kim Jong-Il poster was found last year.
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Video footage shows 11 North Koreans being brought to a public trial and execution in Hoeryong in late February. The charges included human trafficking of North Korean women into China. But one of the two men executed was from the factory where an anti-Kim Jong-Il poster was found last year. The next photo shows local residents gathered for the spectacle by security officers. Other photos depict a man tied to a pole and then pitching forward as shots from the firing squad sever the bindings.
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[North Korea executes men suspected of ties to anti-Kim poster – March 8, East-Asia-Intel.com.]
How could such a secret tape find its way to the outside world? For money, say many volunteer workers at nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Seoul that are helping North Korean defectors and refuges. "North Korean people have learned that the outside world is very much interested in learning about secret activities going on inside North Korea and is prepared to pay a lot of money for such information," said one NGO official.
The defector said that the footage was taken from a hill overlooking an old execution site located at Obong-ri of Hoeryong city, where public executions were held in the early 1990s. This raises the question of whether or not the footage is of recent executions. The defector said the footage he saw consisted of two 40-minute video tapes and included the proceedings of the outdoor court session, immediately followed by the execution by firing squad.
He explained that in a public execution, the condemned person is tied to a poll about 10-15 meters from the firing squad. Then the shooters fire three bullets each to the head, chest and abdomen area. The shots will cut the rope off the poll and the prisoner falls forward. "This is the typical open execution and the tape I saw had all of that," the defector told the DailyNK,
"I could see the mobilized crowd and hear the voices of children who must have gathered there out of curiosity," he said. The defector added that the scene must have been taped from the hill opposite from the slope area where the execution took place.
NGO officials say secret films or photographs are classified according to the rarity and significance. Class A materials are footage of political prisoner camps, drug-manufacturing facilities and nuclear-related facilities and would cost about $100,000.
Sohn said a defector from Hoeryong who now lives in Seoul confirmed that he had been contacted by a Japanese TV station to confirm that the site depicted in the video was indeed Hoeryong. "According to the defector, the execution took place in Hoeryong, but not in the marketplace as was reported," said Sohn.
"I understand there are would-be filming crews in the Sino-North Korea border area waiting months or even years to get a rewarding footage. And then there are NGOs that genuinely want to the world about the reality of North Korea. On top of those, there are also brokers who encourage North Koreans to take secret photographs for lucrative business," he added.
