BBC shows footage of 'public executions' in North Korea
Press Trust of India
London, April 5, 2005
The BBC has broadcast harrowing footage that purportedly shows people being publicly executed by a firing squad in North Korea for trying to flee the totalitarian regime.
The pictures, filmed in secret just over a month ago in towns near the North Korean border with China, were obtained by the British broadcaster and shown on television late last night.
"Those who are to be executed are brought in a vehicle, they are gagged and half dead," one North Korean defector, Kim Young Soon, told the BBC.
"Then they say you are being judged in the name of the people because you tried to escape. They fire a single shot and say you are being shot because you are an enemy of the people, then these people fall and die on the spot," she said, speaking through a translator.
In an exclusive report, the BBC showed shaky footage of prisoners standing in a field as an off-screen voice gave the order to take aim and fire.
"Aim at the enemy. Single shot. Fire. Fire. Fire. Cease firing," the voice commanded, according to sub-titles.
Up to 1,000 local townspeople are forced to watch the executions and told that they too will be shot if they try to leave, said Kim Young Soon.
The BBC said it was impossible to verify the authenticity of the tape due to the impenetrable nature of the regime, but the pictures corresponded with a wealth of witness accounts given by people who managed to escape the country.
© HT Media Ltd. 2004.