North Korea: The Execution Rumour Machine and the Fight to Own the Story

On 29 August 2013, South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo reported that singer Hyon Song-wol and other North Korean performers had been executed by firing squad for making pornographic videos. The report moved quickly to American and European newspapers and television programmes describing a “brutal regime.” On 16 May 2014, Hyon appeared on North Korean television at an artists’ conference. The person the press had declared dead was alive.

In 2016, another story said army chief Ri Yong-gil had been executed for corruption. Months later, he appeared at the Workers’ Party Congress. In 2019, reports said Kim Hyok-chol, the official who handled talks with the United States, had been executed after the Hanoi summit. The report relied on one unnamed source; Kim was later seen taking part in diplomatic work.