North Korea has publicly executed 15 people for attempting to flee the communist country or helping others flee, an aid group claimed Wednesday.
Thirteen women and 2 men were executed by a firing squad on a bridge in the northeastern border town of Onsong on Feb. 20, the Buddhist group Good Friends said.
"Most of them had been jailed for trying to cross the river to China to seek economic assistance from their relatives, or for assisting neighbors trying to cross the river," the group said in its weekly newsletter. It did not provide sources for the information.
The executions were a warning to others who may illegally cross the border into China with the spring season just around the corner, the newsletter said, quoting a senior North Korean official.
Growing numbers of North Koreans are fleeing their homeland to escape hunger or political repression every year. Aid groups here estimate between 50,000 and 300,000 North Koreans are in hiding in China. They are sent back to North Korea if discovered by Chinese authorities.
Defectors now face jail terms ranging from five to seven years if they are caught trying to flee the North or are repatriated after fleeing, the newsletter added. Previously, those people received up to three years in jail, it said. (Yonhap)
