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North Korean defectors report executions for consuming South Korean media

Published: 05 Feb. 2026, 11:42 Updated: 05 Feb. 2026, 16:37

KIM MIN-YOUNG
[email protected]

Performers dressed as "Squid Game" (2021-25) soldiers march in a parade through central Seoul, followed by a fan event with the cast to celebrate the release of the third season of Netflix's hit series on June 28, 2025. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

North Korean residents who consumed South Korean media content have been publicly executed by the state, according to defector testimonies.

The testimonies were published by the human rights organization Amnesty International in a report on Wednesday. The organization conducted in-depth, one-on-one interviews in 2025 with 25 North Korean defectors between the ages of 15 and 25.

Consuming South Korean dramas, films or music can lead to a sentence to a reeducation camp, public shaming or even death, according to the interviews. The defectors described a climate of fear in which South Korean culture is labeled a serious crime, even though "everyone knows everyone watches."

“Authorities told everyone to go, and tens of thousands of people from Sinuiju city gathered to watch,” said defector Choi Su-vin, claiming that she witnessed a public execution in Sinuiju between 2017 and 2018 of people accused of distributing foreign media. “They execute people to brainwash and educate us.”

Amnesty International used pseudonyms to protect interviewees.

Penalties for consuming South Korean content were "determined largely by wealth and connections," according to the defectors. Amnesty International described the system as "arbitrary and corrupt."

"People without money sell their houses to gather $5,000 or $10,000 to pay to get out of the reeducation camps,” said Choi.

Young students of the Socialist Patriotic Youth League are seen during an art performance of the art squad of the Central Committee of the league at the Central Youth Hall in Pyongyang on Jan. 17. [KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY]

Another defector named Park admitted that he escaped punishment because his family had "connections" to officials.

“Usually when high school students are caught, if their family had money, they'd just get warnings,” he said. “I didn’t receive legal punishment because we had connections.”

“When we were 16, 17, in middle school, they took us to executions and showed us everything,” said 40-year-old defector Kim Eun-ju. Kim described that the "education" had one message: "If you watch, this happens to you too."

The interviews also relayed claims that a high school student was executed after being caught watching “Squid Game” (2021-25). Radio Free Asia separately reported in 2021 that an execution took place in North Hamgyong Province over allegations of distributing the series.

Cases in which teenagers were punished for listening to K-pop have continued to be reported, according to the defectors.

A North Korean flag flutters at the propaganda village of Gijungdong in North Korea, in this picture taken near the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone in South Korea on July 19, 2022. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

“This government’s fear of information has effectively placed the entire population in an ideological cage, suffocating their access to the views and thoughts of other human beings," said Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director. "People who strive to learn more about the world outside North Korea, or seek simple entertainment from overseas, face the harshest of punishments.”

North Korea enacted a law in 2020 commonly known as the “Anti-Reactionary Thought and Culture Act,” which prescribes forced labor for up to 15 years for watching or possessing South Korean videos.

"My cousin worked at the People’s Committee [the local government administrative body]," according to defector Kim Ga-young. "He said that when someone was caught, no one would help them out. Even with bribes or connections, there was no guarantee of help because the crackdowns had become so severe."

BY KIM MIN-YOUNG [[email protected]]