For us, watching K-drama is as simple as a search on most video streaming apps and comes with little to no consequences other than losing sleep.
The reality couldn’t be more different for North Koreans as they are prohibited from consuming any media from South Korea.
Rare footage dating back to 2022, as seen on BBC, shows 2 16-year-old boys being punished with 12 years of hard labour for watching K-dramas.
In the clip, the officers reprimanded the handcuffed boys in an outdoor stadium for not “deeply reflecting on their mistakes”.
This footage is being used for ideology education in North Korea, which serves to warn its citizens not to indulge in any South Korean material.
BBC notes that minors committing the same error in the past would be put in a youth camp for a maximum of 5 years. However, in 2020, a law was made whereby anyone who consumes or distributes South Korean entertainment is punishable by death.
Some defectors also told the British broadcaster, “If you get caught watching an American drama, you can get away with a bribe, but if you watch a Korean drama, you get shot.”
They added that it might be because the North Korean authorities had always said that their Southern counterpart was in worse shape than them.
“In North Korea, we learn that South Korea lives much worse than us, but when you watch South Korean dramas, it’s a completely different world. It seems like the North Korean authorities are wary of that.”
You can watch the footage and read the complete report here.
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