North Korea ‘publicly executing teenagers for watching Squid Game’

The regime in North Korea is punishing its citizens for watching TV and listening to music from outside the country, with claims that people have been executed for watching the South Korean show Squid Game.

Amnesty International says they've gathered testimony from people who have fled North Korea about what Kim Jong Un's regime is doing, which describe executions, sentences in labour camps and public humiliation for citizens who watch and listen to South Korean entertainment.

Those people who managed to escape from North Korea have said people listening to K-Pop or watching popular South Korean dramas such as Crash Landing on You, Descendants of the Sun and Squid Game have been put to death.

The escapees said that the regime was executing people for this, including schoolchildren, but wealthier citizens could escape serious punishment by paying bribes, with some selling their houses to afford bribe money.

One person who fled North Korea said they'd heard from another escapee that several people, including high school students, had been executed for watching Squid Game.

People who've fled North Korea said teenagers have been executed for watching Squid Game (Netflix)

Escapees from North Korea also said it was an open secret that people in the country watched South Korean dramas, including those who were arresting and executing people for doing the same thing.

They said: "Workers watch it openly, party officials watch it proudly, security agents watch it secretly, and police watch it safely. Everyone knows everyone watches, including those who do the crackdowns."

They also described people being forced to watch public executions as a form of education.

"Authorities told everyone to go, and tens of thousands of people from Sinuiju city gathered to watch," said Choi Suvin, a 39-year-old woman who escaped from North Korea in 2019.

"They execute people to brainwash and educate us."

The escapees claim it's an open secret that many in North Korea watch South Korean shows, even the people arresting others for the same (AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS)

Others described schools taking their students to watch the executions for 'ideological education', saying that when they were teenagers, their schools 'took us to executions and showed us everything'.

The people they saw put to death 'were executed for watching or distributing South Korean media', with the clear warning 'if you watch, this happens to you too'.

In 2021, Radio Free Asia reported a man had been sentenced to death by firing squad in North Korea for smuggling copies of Squid Game into the country and selling them.

One of the students who bought a USB stick with the show on it was given a life sentence, with six other teenagers sentenced to five years hard labour, while their teachers were fired and faced being banished to work in mines.

In 2020, North Korea passed a law on the 'Elimination of Reactionary Thought and Culture' for which the maximum penalty is death for watching, distributing or owning media from outside the country, particularly that of South Korea and the US.