- South Korean media reported that North Korea has executed dozens of young people for watching South Korean dramas.
- The paper said the programme was stored on a USB that the defectors had smuggled across the border.
- North Korea has been accused of imposing harsh punishments on anyone found watching South Korean media.
In North Korea, watching your favorite Korean drama could end in tragedy.
According to a report by South Korean broadcaster Chosun TV, about 30 middle school students were publicly shot dead while watching a South Korean drama last week.
The program was reportedly stored on a USB that was smuggled across the border by North Korean defectors.
Business Insider was unable to independently verify the report.
South Korean authorities did not directly comment on the reports, but the Korea JoongAng Ilbo quoted an anonymous South Korean Unification Ministry official as telling reporters, “It is widely known that the North Korean authorities are strictly controlling and severely punishing their residents based on the so-called 'evil' three laws.”
One of these is North Korea's Act on the Elimination of Reactionary Ideology and Culture, which bans individuals from disseminating media originating from South Korea, the United States, and Japan.
It is unclear whether these restrictions will apply to foreigners visiting Russia, such as Russian schoolchildren preparing to attend summer camps in the country.
Greg Scarlatoi, executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, told BI that “these reports are certainly credible in a context where there was initially a crackdown on outside information using COVID-19 as an excuse.”
This is not the first time a North Korean has been reported killed for his involvement with content from his southern neighbor.
According to a 2022 UN Secretary-General report, a man in Gangwon province was shot dead by public firing squad after being discovered selling South Korean digital content by a Neighborhood Watch unit.
According to the 2024 North Korea Human Rights Report published by South Korea's Ministry of Unification, mobile phones in North Korea are regularly checked for the use of “Korean-style language” and wearing a white wedding dress is punishable as “reactionary”.
Earlier this year, a video was released showing two young men being sentenced to 12 years' hard labor for watching K-pop videos.
Despite eyewitness accounts collected by Amnesty International, the North Korean government denies that public executions take place in the country.
According to North Korean authorities, the last execution took place in 1992.
North Korea is still technically at war with South Korea, with the 1950s conflict ending in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
A defector told the Korea Herald that in 2020, North Korean parents were made to sign a pledge to prevent their children from watching “impure video content” at home.
Recently, experts have speculated that North Korean soldiers could be sent to support Russian efforts in Ukraine, given North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's closer ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
North Korean representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Correction: July 16, 2024 — An earlier version of this story said multiple news outlets reported the original allegations, not a single station.
