North Korea is one of the last four countries to still perform public executions. 4 out of 5 North Koreans have witnessed at least one public execution, while over half have been forced to watch one, according to a study from a South Korea-based research group. According to many first person accounts, the family of the person executed is forced to watch as well. People are shot to death by a firing squad, with public hangings becoming less common. North Korea says that public executions only take place for “exceptionally grave” crimes, but property theft is the most common crime punished by public execution. Other crimes included political crimes, such as trying to escape the Country, and watching foreign media.* The people who perform the execution are said to sometimes appear drunk during the execution. A defector says “this is because killing is a hard thing to do emotionally.” The common view of the North Korean regime is that it and all of its workers are heartless machines. But it is only the top that is in control, and even high-ranking officials defect. Lower workers of the government don't make enough money to survive just like nearly everyone else, so they live off of bribes. The way to survive in North Korea is to bribe. 

According to a defector who dealt methamphetamines from a less prominent city called Hoeryong, about 70 or 80 percent of adults used meth. Government officials were one of his most frequent consumers, so he let them smoke meth for free in his house as protection. 

I want this piece to not just show the tragedy of those publicly executed and their families, but also its impact on those who perform the executions. 

*Based on interviews with over 600 defectors by the nonprofit Transitional Justice Working Group based in Seoul.