The government of North Korea is reportedly putting citizens to death, including schoolchildren, for watching South Korean television programs like Squid Game and listening to K-pop music.
According to NDTV, the human rights organization said in a damning report that escapees’ testimony expose a harsh system of repression where access to foreign media is considered a deadly charge with penalties frequently based on political connections and wealth.
Amnesty said people caught watching South Korean dramas or listening to K-pop are subjected to arbitrary punishments ranging from long-term forced labour to public execution. In several cases, children were reportedly forced to watch executions as a warning against consuming foreign content.
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People who are found watching South Korean dramas or listening to K-pop, according to Amnesty International, face arbitrary penalties that can range from public execution to lengthy forced labour. As a warning against accessing foreign content, children were allegedly made to see executions in a number of cases.
According to the report, poorer North Koreans are far more likely to face execution or lengthy prison sentences, while wealthier citizens are able to evade punishment by bribing security officials.
“These testimonies show how North Korea is enforcing dystopian laws that mean watching a South Korean TV show can cost you your life — unless you can afford to pay,” Amnesty’s Deputy Regional Director, Sarah Brooks, said.
“The authorities criminalise access to information in violation of international law, then allow officials to profit off those fearing punishment. This is repression layered with corruption.”
According to Amnesty, it interviewed 25 escapees in-depth who left the country between 2019 and 2020.
While similar executions were recorded in North Hamgyong Province in 2021, other interviewers claimed to have heard of high school students being put to death in Yanggang Province for watching Squid Game.
In one widely reported case, a student who smuggled copies of Squid Game into North Korea from China in 2021 was executed by firing squad, according to Radio Free Asia.
Others who simply observed the performance received sentences of years of hard labour or life in jail.
North Korea’s 2020 Anti-Reactionary Thought and Culture Act, which labels South Korean content as “rotten ideology that paralyses the people’s revolutionary sense,” is the legal basis for the crackdown.
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Watching or owning South Korean dramas, films, or music is punishable by law by five to fifteen years of forced labour, while distributing “large amounts” of such material or hosting group screenings is punishable by death.
The escapees also detailed the actions of a special police team called the “109 Group,” which relentlessly searches residences, cell phones, and personal property without a warrant in an effort to find foreign media.
One defector quoted an officer as saying, “We don’t want to punish you harshly, but we need to bribe our bosses to save our own lives.”
Despite the risks, South Korean dramas and K-pop music continue to circulate inside North Korea, smuggled in on USB drives from China. Interviewees said consumption of foreign media is widespread, even among officials tasked with enforcing the bans.
“Workers watch it openly, party officials watch it proudly, security agents watch it secretly, and police watch it safely,” one escapee said. “Everyone knows everyone watches.”
Amnesty said stated that executions are routinely used as tools of “ideological education,” with students and entire communities forced to attend.
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