North Korea Is Executing People For Watching K-Dramas And Listening To K-Pop
North Korea has one of the world’s most restrictive information environments, and consuming foreign media is illegal.
North Korea is executing people, including school children, for watching South Korean TV shows and listening to K-pop.
A report from Amnesty international released in February has revealed that North Koreans who watch South Korean shows like “Crash Landing on You” and “Squid Game” or listen to South Korean pop music like BTS could be punished by being sent to labor camps or even publicly executed.
North Koreans who fled the country between 2012 and 2020 told Amnesty that after “Squid Game” was released in 2021, people, including high school students, were executed for watching the hit Netflix show.
They also said that authorities target and punish people for listening to South Korean pop music, such as K-pop songs, including those by BTS.
Several interviewees mentioned that there is a specialized law enforcement unit that searches people’s homes, bags and phones without warrants.
And the government forced children to attend and watch public executions as part of their “ideological education”.
The interviewees also revealed that punishment for consuming South Korean media depended heavily on money.
They said people had to sell their houses to try to get out of re-education camps, while those with connections and money could get off with a warning.
North Korea has one of the world’s most restrictive information environments, and consuming foreign media is illegal.
In 2020, it passed a law defining South Korean content as “rotten ideology that paralyzes the people's revolutionary sense”, with heavy sentences, including up to 15 years of forced labor and the death penalty, for consuming and distributing South Korean content.
You Might Also Be Interested In
Cherry Mohamed
Sofia Hou
