U.N. human rights experts have called on the North Korean government to clarify whether it executed two women forcibly repatriated from China, as well as reported sentences of life imprisonment for nine other women.

In a letter dated Nov. 6 and posted online Sunday, seven U.N. special rapporteurs expressed “grave concern” over undisclosed reports that 11 women were tried in Aug. 2024 in North Hamgyong Province on charges of “operating adult entertainment venues, prostitution and ‘insulting the dignity of people.’”

Two of the women, aged 43 and 39, were reportedly sentenced to death and executed the same day, while the