A white paper on North Korea’s human rights says public executions are still being carried out in the communist state but not as often as before.

The paper released by the Korea Institute for National Unification was based on the testimonies of 50 North Koreans that escaped the communist state and entered South Korea between 2007 and 2008.

The report said harsh international criticism against the North’s poor human rights situation is likely to have led to the sharp drop in the number of public executions.

The report added that the North has recently stepped up punishment for social crimes --- including human trafficking, murder and drug smuggling --- as its economic troubles are aggravating fast. North Korean escapees and their families were also found to have been heavily punished by authorities.

According to the report, the majority of South Korean prisoners of war remaining in the North have been placed in coal mines in Hamgyeong Province due to labor shortages.