People in North Korea are being publically executed for watching South Korean TV shows including Squid Game, it has been discovered.
Amnesty International reports that North Korea is severely punishing even schoolchildren for watching or listening to South Korean media and popular culture.
Testimonies from people who have escaped the country reveal that children are sometimes forced to witness public executions carried out for these so-called “crimes,” as a warning to others not to consume foreign content.
The harshest punishments are typically imposed on poorer citizens, while wealthier individuals or those with political connections can often avoid execution by bribing officials.
Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director, said the testimonies from residents who escaped show the severity of the country’s “dystopian” laws.
“Watching a South Korean TV show can cost you your life – unless you can afford to pay,” she 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, and it most devastates those without wealth or connections.”
Ms Brooks said North Koreans had been placed into an “ideological cage” because of their Government’s fear of information.
While strong laws are in place to prevent popular South Korean culture from seeping over to North Korea, content is still finding its way there.
Interviewees told Amnesty International that those who listen to bands like BTS or watch popular shows like Squid Game have been executed.
In 2021, a student who smuggled copies of Squid Game into the country from China was sentenced to death by firing squad.
According to sources cited in Radio Free Asia, the student was caught after selling copies of the Netflix show to other students.
His friends who watched it were sentenced to hard labour, while another who purchased a copy was given a life sentence.
Some people have highlighted the striking parallels between Netflix’s Squid Game and life in North Korea.
Squid Game is a dystopian thriller about 456 cash-strapped and desperate individuals who enter a secret competition of deadly children's games to win ₩45.6 billion, which is around £24.9 million.
Unbeknownst to them when they enter the game, the “losers” in each round are not simply eliminated but killed, making it a high-stakes and deadly competition with only one winner.
The Netflix show depicts high-stakes, authoritarian settings with constant surveillance, forced participation, public humiliation, and the threat of severe punishment, which has drawn comparisons to life in North Korea.
