Approximately 200,000 people are held in detention facilities in North Korea. Many are subjected to torture and other ill-treatment such as hard labour. The death penalty is often imposed even though the alleged crime is not subject to death sentence under domestic law. The country has also followed a policy of abduction and enforced disappearance since the Korean War (1950-53). In this information sheet Amnesty International calls on the government to stop forced labour; to improve conditions in detention facilities; to end executions and to stop all abductions and enforced disappearances.