Teens in North Korea sentenced to hard labor for watching K-dramas—video
Two teenage boys in North Korea were slapped with a 12-year hard labor sentence after they were caught watching K-drama, rare footage from BBC Korean reported.
The video appeared to be filmed in 2022, according to the outlet, showing the two 16-year-olds handcuffed at an outdoor stadium in front of hundreds of students. Uniformed officers were also reprimanding them for "not deeply reflecting on their mistakes."
"The rotten puppet regime's culture has even spread to teenagers," a narrator said in the clip, referring to South Korea. "They are just 16 years old, but they ruined their own future."
In North Korea, South Korean entertainment such as K-dramas and even South Korean slang are banned. The banned content has continued to reach the country through China, the report said.
In 2021, a man was sentenced to death for smuggling copies of Squid Game to students via USB flash drives from China.
The footage reported is also rare as North Korea forbids content such as photos and videos of life inside the country to be shared outside it. According to BBC, the video was provided by the South and North Development (Sand), an organization that works with North Korean defectors.
Sand CEO Choi Kyong-hui further explained to the BBC why such content is banned.
"Admiration for South Korean society can soon lead to a weakening of the system... this goes against the monolithic ideology that makes North Koreans revere the Kim family," she said.
According to an Associated Press report, 196 people defected from North to South Korea in 2023, with South Korean authorities saying it was due to their discontent with leader Kim Jong-un.