A/HRC/7/20 page 10 programmes from the Republic of Korea. TV and radio sets are pre-tuned to government programmes (of the North), and people are punished for disobedience on this matter. While the authorities claim that religious freedom is allowed, it is known that those who leave the country in search of refuge elsewhere and who contact missionaries en route are persecuted and punished if sent back to the country. 26. Particularly disquieting is the continuing use of public executions to intimidate the public, despite various law reforms in 2004 and 2005 which claim to have improved the criminal law framework and related sanctions. Overhaul of the prison system is long overdue and the harsh conditions imposed by the criminal justice system and related detention give rise to a plethora of abuses, including torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The transgressions are often multiple and repeated, including not only torture committed against people in detention, but also malnutrition linked with starvation, and even defiling and degrading treatment of those who are dead.16 27. On another front, the authorities have been engaged in the abductions of foreign nationals. There are a number of Japanese abducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and details are provided below in the report on the Special Rapporteur’s visit to Japan. The nationals of a range of other countries (according to information received, a dozen countries or more) have also been affected. D. Displacement and asylum: the (im)mobility factor? 28. Since its inception, the regime in power has regulated migration stringently as an instrument of State control. Generally the population is not allowed to move freely within the country and they are only able to travel abroad with official permission. However, in recent years the policy of immobility has been diluted, since many people have been displaced for political reasons and/or economic reasons. On the one hand, a large number of those who are persecuted by the regime have sought refuge outside the country. On the other hand, people are also on the move within the country and across the border in search of basic necessities to overcome hunger and improve their livelihood. It has thus become more difficult for the authorities to exert full control over the migration factor. On another front, there is an incipient stream of workers and migrant labourers who travel to special economic zones within the country and/or across the border to other countries as part of bilateral arrangements on labour importation. 29. With regard to asylum and refuge, the Special Rapporteur analysed at length in his previous reports17 the status of those who seek asylum in other countries. There are those who leave the country of origin for reasons of persecution (the traditional refugee) and those who fear persecution after having left the country (refugee sur place). Both types of refugees are found from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The latter group arises because they may be punished upon return for having left the country without permission (an exit visa) and this threat of persecution is tantamount to potential or actual persecution, albeit at a later stage. There have 16 D. Hawk, Concentrations of Inhumanity, Freedom House, Washington, 2007, pp. 9-10. 17 A/HRC/4/15, paras. 18-28 and A/62/264, paras. 28-40.