Source: Direct News
According to CCTV News on September 28, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea, the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK issued a decree announcing the implementation of amnesty for convicted persons from October 1, 2025. The decree requires the DPRK cabinet and relevant agencies to take measures to properly resettle the work and life of the released persons.
In North Korea, such arrangements are not unfamiliar.With Secretary-General of the Labour Party of the DPRK and Chief of State Kim Jong Un in power for more than a decade, amnesty has become almost an institutionalized arrangement. It is both a political ritual in celebrations and a tool of social governance, and also plays a role in external narratives.Although the amnesty of the North Korean Party Celebration this year is expected, it still provides a window for observing the political and social logic of North Korea.
Institutionalized political ceremonies
Since Kim Jong-un’s reign, Amnesty has been tied to major political nodes.Since 2012, several important amnesty orders have drawn a clear timeline:
· In 2012:To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Kim Jong-un's birth and the 70th anniversary of Kim Jong-un's birth, amnesty was issued by Kim Jong-un for the first time.
· in 2015:Amnesty was carried out to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Korean motherland (1945), and the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Korean Labour Party.
· in 2018:In celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of North Korea (1948), amnesty was carried out, compared to previous reports, with North Korean officials adding some content to the report, saying that the amnesty should reflect “the primacy of the people and protect the people’s self-reliance and creative lives.”
· 2020:Amnesty was implemented to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Labor Party. North Korea's official report continues the expression that "the 'Mother Party' (Workers' Party of Korea) embraces the whole people", and repeatedly emphasizes "pragmatic resettlement" in the decree, showing that amnesty is directly linked to social governance and labor demand.
In the year 2022:In order to commemorate the 110th anniversary of Kim’s birth and the 80th anniversary of Kim’s birth, the decree said that the move embodies Kim’s people-loving spirit, stressed that forgiveness helps to consolidate internal unity, and declared the implementation of North Korea’s “People’s Firstism”.
In the year 2025:In order to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Labour Party, the decree continued its statements, calling on the DPRK Cabinet and relevant agencies to "appropriately accommodate the work and life of the released persons", highlighting the importance of post-amnesty social integration.
From the time frame of more than a decade, amnesty has become a highly institutionalized political ceremony in North Korea. Whether it’s the birthday of a leader or the “five-to-ten” political year, amnesty almost always comes on a timely basis. This arrangement makes amnesty no longer a temporary forgiveness, but a periodic action integrated into the political life of the country.
International Mirror of Amnesty
In the West, the word "amnesty" is derived from the Greek and means "to forget". In the legal sense, it allows a specific range of crimes to be written off, and the pardoned person regains his innocence. This is different from "amnesty", which only reduces sentences for individual cases and will not erase crimes.
Amnesty is a widely used political instrument from an international perspective. The United States has repeatedly issued amnesty decrees during and after the North Korean War to promote national reconciliation, but there are often exceptions to the core leadership to avoid "excessive indulgence". France has long regarded amnesty as a political ritual, and the fifth republic established, the new president often announced amnesty on the first National Day after taking office, symbolizing the continuation and stability of the system until the 21st century. South Africa's experience is more representative: through the "Truth and Reconciliation Committee", truth will be told in exchange for indulgence, making indulgence and responsibility converge, becoming an important support for social transformation.
In some turbulent countries, amnesty has more realistic political considerations.In 2011, Syria declared amnesty in a wave of anti-government demonstrations, attempting to ease social tensions, but failed; Myanmar released political prisoners several times during the same period in order to improve the image of the country and push the West to lift sanctions.
These cases show that, The core meaning of amnesty is not merely “liberation,” but how to serve political purposes through “forgiveness”: either to repair divisions, or to strengthen institutions, or to gain external identity.In contrast, North Korea's amnesty is more prominent because it shapes the emotional bond between the party and the people at the political node, and responds to the needs of social governance at the pragmatic level.
Realistic considerations behind it
At the domestic political level of North Korea, amnesty is first and foremost an important means ofining solidarity.In the important years of national celebration politics, taking generous measures such as forgiveness can promote the integration of entire social relations and maintain domestic political stability.
Meanwhile, the socio-economic function of amnesty is becoming increasingly prominent.In 2024, the growth rate of the North Korean economy reached 3.7%, the highest annual growth rate in eight years. Currently, all kinds of construction projects in North Korea are accelerating and labour supply is thus becoming a real challenge. In this context, Amnesty's decree emphasizes "practical settlement" in particular, which can reduce the pressure of prisons, and also allow the liberated to re-enter the social production system, and even allow some professionals to return to their positions. This shift from "freedom" to "settlement" reflects stronger pragmatic considerations in regime governance.
On a deeper level, amnesty also carries the function of external communication.It can not only reflect the full confidence of the North Korean leadership in maintaining domestic stability, but also let the outside world see an image of North Korea that can show forgiveness and flexibility at key nodes. Coincidentally, just before and after the decree was issued, North Korean Foreign Minister Cui Shanji visited China, which attracted the attention of the outside world. In recent years, Kim Jong-un has repeatedly stressed the need to deepen relations with China, Russia and other countries, and has released his willingness to contact with the United States under certain conditions. In this diplomatic layout, amnesty adds a flexible narrative element to North Korea, which makes it present a "hard but soft" side in the international public opinion field.
The author is Morning Lu.