Testimonies collected from defectors who escaped North Korea have revealed that the dictatorial regime of leader Kim Jong Un executes high school students for "watching international content," according to a report published this past weekend on Sky News.
Amnesty International interviewed approximately 25 witnesses who managed to escape the dictatorial state, and they revealed that students have been executed for watching the popular Netflix series "Squid Game," while others currently face the death penalty or other severe punishments for listening to South Korean pop music.
The defectors said that watching South Korean dramas popular worldwide, such as "Squid Game," "Crash Landing on Love," and "Descendants of the Sun," can lead to severe consequences, including execution. The witnesses said that any engagement related to South Korean culture is perceived by Kim's regime as a "grave crime."
Selling homes to avoid punishment
Choi Sobin, who escaped from North Korea in 2019, said in his testimony that people sold their homes to avoid punishment. "People get caught for the same act (listening to or watching something South Korean), but the punishment depends entirely on money," he said. "People without money will sell their house for $5,000 or $10,000 – just to get out of re-education camps."
Kim Jeongsik, who also escaped from North Korea in 2019, said he was caught three times, reinforced Sobin's testimony, and testified that he avoided punishment because of money and his family connections. "Usually, high school students who were caught, and whose parents have money – received only warnings," he said. "I didn't receive punishments because we had connections." He added that, unlike him, three friends of his sister were caught and sent to a labor camp because their parents did not have the ability to pay the "bribe."
Execution to instill fear
The witnesses told Amnesty that as part of the "ideological education" – essentially the brainwashing that the country's residents undergo – they are sometimes forced, including school students, to come and watch executions. One witness said he watched the execution of a person for watching South Korean content "in 2017 or 2018" in the city of Sinuiju near the Chinese border, "The authorities told everyone to come, and tens of thousands of people from the city gathered to watch," it was stated. "They execute people to brainwash them and educate them."
Kim Unjo, a North Korean native, now 40 years old, said that when he was in high school, he was taken to an execution display. "They showed us everything," he said. "People were executed for watching or broadcasting South Korean content – this is ideological education – if you watch, this will happen to you too."
According to North Korea's 2020 "Anti-Reactionary Thought and Culture" law, South Korean content is considered "rotten ideology that paralyzes the people's revolutionary sense." According to the law, anyone caught watching South Korean content will face between five and 15 years of forced labor. And anyone caught distributing the content, or organizing group viewing, will face more severe punishments, including the death penalty.
Fifteen interviewees described how a special police unit nicknamed "Unit 109" hunted foreign media, conducted surprise checks in people's homes, and street searches of mobile phones and bags, all without a warrant. One defector recalled that unit members warned, "We don't want to punish you severely, but we need to bribe our bosses to save our lives."
The leadership and insiders are allowed everything
Despite the law, the witnesses said that watching international content in North Korea is "very common." According to them, dramas, movies, and music are smuggled from China on USB drives, which are then connected to laptops.
Unsurprisingly, the witnesses said that the entire political elite and security forces, including those hunting down law violators, watch South Korean content. "Workers watch it openly, party officials watch it proudly, security agents watch it secretly, and the police watch it confidently. Everyone knows everyone watches, including those carrying out the repression."
Sarah Brooks, deputy regional director at Amnesty, told Sky News that "the authorities allowed access to information while violating international law, and then allowed officials to profit from those fearing punishment. This is repression combined with corruption, and it primarily destroys those who have no wealth or connections."
She added, "This government's fear of information has essentially put the entire population in an 'ideological cage,' and 'suffocated' their access to other people's opinions and thoughts. People seeking to learn more about the world outside North Korea, or looking for simple entertainment from abroad, face the harshest punishments. This is a completely arbitrary system, built on fear and corruption, that violates basic principles of justice and internationally recognized human rights. It must be dismantled."
