NORTH KOREA. TWO HUMAN TRAFFICKERS EXECUTED IN PUBLIC

February 28, 2005: North Korea put two human traffickers to death in public in late February for smuggling North Korean women into China. The public execution took place in the North Korean city of Hoeryong, close to the border with China.
``The two men faced the firing squad in a marketplace in the city,’’ Free NK reported, after receiving the information via telephone from a North Korean resident living near the border. In addition, nine women who were smuggled into China but repatriated later were sentenced to jail terms of two to 18 years, it said. Under a revised North Korean law, the death penalty or life imprisonment can be given to those charged with treason, terrorism, subversion and anti-government crimes. (Sources: Yonhap, 04/03/2005)