regime itself have disappeared or been executed after falling out of favor. The most prominent example is Jang Sung-taek, the uncle of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un. On December 8, 2013, Jang was publicly expelled from the ruling Workers' Party of Korea. Some of the accusations included "illicit affairs with women, obstructing the nation's economic affairs, and committing anti-party factional acts". On December 13, 2013, the state media announced that Jang had been executed. Trials The constitution states that courts are independent and that judicial proceedings are to take place in strict accordance to the law; however, an independent judiciary does not exist. Little information is available on formal criminal-justice procedures and practices, with outside access to the legal system limited to trials for traffic violations and other minor offenses. The Ministry of Social Security (North Korea) (MSS) dispenses with trials in political cases and refers prisoners to the State Security Department (SSD) for punishment. According to Hidden Gulag, most inmates in prison camps arrive there without trial, without knowing the charges against them, and without having legal counsel. Witness to Transformation reported that only 13 percent of the 102 respondents who had been incarcerated in the country received a trial. Public executions North Korea resumed public executions in October 2007 - such executions had declined in number in the years following 2000 amidst international criticism. Prominent executed criminals include officials convicted of drug trafficking and embezzlement. Reports also tell of the executions - mostly by firing-squad - of common criminals convicted of crimes such as murder, robbery, rape, drug dealing, smuggling, piracy and vandalism. The country does not publicly release national crime statistics or reports on the levels of crimes. In October 2007 a firing-squad executed a South Pyongan province factory-chief (convicted of making international phone calls from 13 phones he installed in his factory basement) in front of a crowd of 150,000 people in a stadium, according to a report from a South Korean aid agency called Good Friends. Good Friends also reported that six were killed in the crush as spectators left. In another instance, 15 people were publicly executed in 2008 for crossing the border into China. In 2007 a UN General Assembly committee adopted a draft resolution, co-sponsored by more than 50 countries, expressing "very serious concern" at reports of widespread human rights violations in North Korea, including public executions. North Korea condemned the draft