Punishment For Watching K-Drama! Video Shows North Korean Police Sentencing Teens To Hard Labour

Two teenage boys were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for watching K-dramas, claimed BBC Korea after attaining an exclusive video. According to a BBC report, the video was shot in 2022, that shows police arresting two 16-year-old boys in front of hundreds of students at an outdoor stadium. The video also shows a police officer arresting youngsters for not "deeply reflecting on their mistakes".

For the unversed, South Korean films and dramas aka K-Drama are banned in North Korea, following which, the police took action against the boys.

Notably, North Korea has also banned sharing photos and videos of the country with the outside world.

The reports suggest North Korean authorities have shared this video clip across the country to educate people ideologically and restrict them from watching "decadent recordings".

The video also has a voice-over reiterating state propaganda. "The rotten puppet regime's culture has spread even to teenagers," says the voice, in an apparent reference to South Korea. "They are just 16 years old, but they ruined their own future," it adds.

The South and North Development (Sand), a research institute that works with defectors from the North shared this video with the BBC.

The reports added that Pyongyang passed a law that rendered the act of watching or distributing South Korean entertainment a capital offense in 2022.

Sand CEO Choi Kyong-hui said Pyongyang sees the spread of K-dramas and K-pop as a danger to its ideology.

"Admiration for South Korean society can soon lead to a weakening of the system... This goes against the monolithic ideology that makes North Koreans revere the Kim family," she said.