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full screen North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-Un, TV images you won’t be punished for watching in the closed country. Archive image. Photo: Lee Jin-Man/AP/TT
Two teenagers in North Korea have been sentenced to twelve years of hard labor for watching South Korean TV dramas – an unusually harsh sentence even for the closed country.
Two 16-year-old boys stand in front of hundreds of students in an outdoor arena, handcuffed, and abused by men in uniform.
Britain’s BBC is reporting on the case after coming across the clip, which was smuggled out of North Korea. The film is believed to have been produced to warn North Koreans against watching “decadent” entertainment.
“The culture of the rotten puppet regime has even spread to teenagers. They are only 16 years old but have already ruined their future,” says a narrator.
South Korean entertainment usually reaches its neighbor to the north via China. But it’s dangerous to watch.
– If you are caught watching American dramas, you can get away if you bribe someone, but if you have watched a South Korean program, you will be shot, says a defector to the BBC.