North Korean authorities executed teenagers for watching the South Korean television series “Squid Game” and listening to K-pop, human rights investigators announced in early February.
Amnesty International quoted testimony from an escapee with family ties in Yanggang province who said people, including schoolchildren, were executed for specifically watching the popular survival drama series.
It also separately documented accounts of forced labor punishment and public humiliation for consuming South Korean media elsewhere in the country, especially for those without money or political connections.
“When high school students are caught and their families have money, they usually only get warnings,” said Kim Joonsik, 28, who was caught watching South Korean dramas three times before leaving the country in 2019.
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A folder containing a US dollar bill among USB drives full of K-pop music is seen during an interview with North Korean defector Park Sang-hak in Seoul, South Korea, on June 25, 2024. (Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images)
“I was not punished legally because we had connections,” he told Amnesty International in an interview.
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Joonsik said three high school friends of his sisters were given multi-year labor camp sentences in the late 2010s after being caught watching South Korean dramas, a punishment he said reflected their families’ inability to pay bribes.
“Authorities criminalize access to information that violates international law, then allow officials to take advantage of those who fear punishment. This is repression layered with corruption, and it especially devastates those without wealth or connections,” said Sarah Brooks, deputy regional director of Amnesty International.
Members of the North Korean Military Choir sing a Russian song during a concert following the Russian-North Korean talks in Pyongyang, North Korea, on June 19, 2024. (Contributor/Getty Images)
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“This government’s fear of information has effectively placed the entire population in an ideological cage, stifling their access to other people’s views and thoughts,” she added. “People who strive to learn more about the world outside North Korea, or simply seek entertainment abroad, face the harshest penalties.”
Korean pop music fans attend the KCON convention in Newark, New Jersey, on June 23, 2018. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
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Several defectors told the human rights group that they had to witness public executions while still in school, describing the practice as a form of state-imposed indoctrination intended to discourage exposure to foreign cultures.
“When we were 16, 17, in high school, they took us to executions and showed us everything,” said Kim Eunju, 40. “People were executed for watching or spreading South Korean media. It’s ideological education: if you watch, this will happen to you too.”
