North Korea executed 30 teenagers for watching South Korean content

The country ruled by Kim Jong-un has classified all types of South Korean production as “malignant influence”

North Korea executed 30 high school students for watching South Korean dramasaccording to South Korean media reports. According to the investigation, the programs were stored on devices USBs smuggled into the country by North Korean defectors.

An anonymous official from the Ministry of Unification of South Korea He said North Korean authorities severely punish residents based on three “evil” laws. One of these laws is the Law on the Rejection of Reactionary Ideology and Culturewhich prohibits the dissemination of media from South Korea, the United States and Japan.

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North Korea and the sentences

This is not the first case of severe measures in North Korea. In 2022, a 22-year-old man was publicly executed for consuming and distributing South Korean contentaccording to a report on human rights in North Korea that collected testimonies from 649 North Korean defectors.

According to a witness, the young man was convicted of listening to 70 K-pop songs, watching three movies and distributing such content, violating a 2020 law that prohibits the «culture and reactionary ideology» with the aim of controlling external information.

The K-pop ban is part of an effort to “protect” North Koreans from the alleged “malignant” influence of Western culture, a policy that began under Kim Jong-il and intensified under Kim Jong-un.