Best & Worst of CPAC's Free Speech Ratings: North Korea

Freedom of speech is a fundamental human right that keeps authoritarian governments in check. CPAC's inaugural Free Speech Ratings highlight those nations that most aggressively dismantle or are protecters of this right. In the latest assessment, North Korea received a 0% score, marking it as the most absolute vacuum of expression in the modern world. According to CPAC Free Speech Ratings, this score identifies a state where independent thought is not merely restricted but is treated as a capital offense. This rating serves as a global warning of the dangers posed by a regime that has successfully eliminated all forms of independent media and private discourse to maintain total state power.

The roots of this repression lie in North Korea’s history as a rigid communist state that has elevated the Kim dynasty as god-like rulers who have full agency to quash any form of dissent. Under the dictatorship of Kim Jong Un, the government demands absolute, unquestioning loyalty from every citizen. To ensure social cohesion and uniformity, the regime imposes draconian and often absurd laws that regulate everything from the state-mandated news to restricting "capitalist hairstyles" and clothing choices. This historical legacy of isolationism and ideological purity has created a dystopian society where the state monitors not just the actions of its people, but their very thoughts, utilizing a pervasive network of surveillance to punish even the smallest hint of cultural non-conformity.

The horrific case of an unnamed 22-year-old man from Hwanghae province serves as a chilling testament to this restriction of free speech. In 2022, the young man was publicly executed for the "crime" of watching and distributing South Korean films and K-pop music. This execution was a direct application of the law against "reactionary ideology and culture," which criminalizes the consumption of any material that reflects the outside world. Details of his death were brought to light in the 2024 Report on North Korean Human Rights by South Korea's unification ministry, which noted that despite these lethal risks, South Korean culture remains popular among the youth. The North Korean regime has responded by cracking down with even greater brutality, attempting to block the influence of USB sticks and anti-Pyongyang leaflets that are frequently floated over the border by activists.

Executing citizens for simply listening to music is a stark example of why freedom of speech is the bedrock of human dignity. By acting as a check on power, free expression prevents the mass atrocities committed by tyrannical governments. Through the inaugural Free Speech Ratings, CPAC highlights the world’s defenders of freedom and holds accountable the regimes that suppress the fundamental human right to speak.

Read the full brief here.

Not every case of imprisonment for speech gets widespread media attention. If you are aware of a case in which a person was imprisoned for speech and received a harsher sentence than the political prisoner whom we feature in the scorecard, please send the details of the case to slaird2@conservative.org. To meet our methodological criteria, the person must be 1) imprisoned or sentenced to prison for speech that would have been protected under the US first amendment, 2) a citizen of the country in which they are imprisoned, 3) received a sentence of imprisonment for at least one month OR were imprisoned without being sentenced for at least 3 months 4) not imprisoned for any actual crime during the same period for which they were sentenced for a speech crime.

CPAC vehemently opposes the views of many of the political prisoners featured in the Freedom of Speech Ratings. Political prisoners are featured in the Freedom of Speech Ratings for the purpose of revealing the state of legal Freedom of Speech protection in their countries. Political prisoners are selected based on the objective facts of their cases; each selected prisoner is the person who received the harshest sentence in that country for speech that would have been protected by the US First Amendment. CPAC stands for the right to Freedom of Speech for everyone, even people whose views we vehemently oppose.