Recently, a group of North Korean defectors in South Korea was reported to have sent propaganda balloons to North Korea containing USB flash drives with South Korean dramas. Over thirty North Korean high school students found these flash drives, but they were publicly executed for watching the South Korean dramas.
According to a report by the South Korean newspaper “Chosun Ilbo” on July 12, the group of North Korean defectors in South Korea released propaganda balloons to North Korea last month, including flash drives with South Korean dramas. However, over thirty North Korean high school students who found and watched these flash drives were publicly executed in early July.
Last month, North Korea also sentenced over thirty teenagers around 17 years old to life imprisonment and death for similar reasons. North Korean residents who picked up the rice that drifted in from the sea in plastic containers, brought by the North Korean defectors group, and cooked with it were also penalized with forced labor.
A defector from North Korea recounted witnessing a 22-year-old man being publicly executed in 2022 simply because he had listened to 70 South Korean songs, watched three South Korean movies, and shared them with others during his trial.
North Korea, based on the “Anti-Reactionary Thought Culture Resistance Law” enacted in December 2020, implements severe penalties for those involved in spreading South Korean culture. The law stipulates that those disseminating South Korean movies will face the death penalty, viewers could be sentenced to up to 15 years of imprisonment, speaking with a South Korean accent or singing style could lead to 2 years of forced labor, and even books, songs, and photos are subject to restrictions.
North Korea has been punishing its residents severely for engaging with South Korean culture or cuisine under the pretext of violating the law against reactionary thought culture, as verified by testimonies of defectors in the “2024 North Korean Human Rights Report” published by the South Korean Ministry of Unification.
For instance, North Korea prohibits behaviors such as wearing white wedding dresses instead of traditional Korean attire, drinking alcohol from wine glasses, wearing sunglasses, labeling them as “reactionary.”
Despite the risk of severe punishment, instances of North Korean residents secretly watching South Korean dramas are not uncommon. Recently, a female defector revealed that after watching South Korean dramas, she made up her mind to risk her life to escape from North Korea.
In a testimony at a conference for the “2024 North Korean Human Rights Report,” the woman in her twenties stated that she frequently watched South Korean TV dramas and programs while in North Korea, all obtained from Chinese sources.
She mentioned popular South Korean TV dramas among young people in North Korea, such as “Winter Sonata,” “Autumn in My Heart,” “Gentleman and Lady,” “Itaewon Class,” “Descendants of the Sun,” “What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim,” “Heirs,” “My Love from the Star,” and more.
She expressed that by watching South Korean TV programs, she began to harbor hope and dreams of the outside world and could no longer continue living in North Korea. Eventually, she successfully escaped North Korea with her mother, risking their lives.