Recent reports indicate that North Korea has expanded its list of crimes punishable by death under the regime of Supreme leader Kim Jong Un. The revisions to the criminal law have increased the number of offenses warranting the death penalty from 11 to 16.
New offenses that now carry the punishment of execution include anti-state propaganda and agitation acts, illegal manufacturing, and the illicit use of weapons. These legal modifications were implemented through a series of amendments between May 2022 and December 2023, as reported by the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU).
