Allegations have been raised that North Korea publicly executed teenage students caught watching South Korean TV dramas and movies.
On the 4th, Radio Free Asia (RFA) quoted a resident of Yanggang Province, North Korea, and reported that “three teenage students were publicly executed in Hyesan City last October.”
According to sources, two out of three people were caught watching Korean dramas, movies, and pornographic videos and distributing them to their friends in the ’82 Combined Command (Anti-Socialist/Non-Socialist Combined Command). The other was accused of killing her stepmother after arguing with her over money.
It is known that the public execution took place on the runway of Hyesan Airfield. A source said, “At the runway where the residents of Hyesan were systematically gathered, the authorities put the teenage students in a public courthouse, sentenced them to death, and immediately shot them.”
“After the public execution, the authorities terrified the residents, saying that those who watch or circulate Korean movies and dramas, and those who disrupt social order, such as robbery, will not be forgiven and will be sentenced to the highest possible death penalty,” he explained.
According to the source, if minors are caught watching South Korean videos in North Korea, first-time offenders are punished with 1-6 months of labor, second offenders are imprisoned in labor correctional centers, and parents are imprisoned in labor correctional centers with responsibility for educating their children. However, it is said that even minors can be sentenced to death if they are caught distributing or selling rather than just watching.
Another resident source in North Hamgyong Province also said, “Despite intense control and crackdowns to eradicate reactionary ideology and culture, youths caught secretly watching South Korean movies in large cities including the border have not been eradicated. went out,” he said.
Reporter Doo Ga-on Donga.com [email protected]