North Korean authorities have announced through a propaganda video that students and youth who watch South Korean media are considered anti-socialist and anti-regime criminals and have been sentenced to life labor re-education. The purpose of this video, produced by the authorities, is to sternly warn against the consequences of exposure to South Korean culture.
According to Radio Free Asia on July 17, a resident in North Hamgyong Province said, “These days, at every weekly lecture meeting (held by the authorities), they show residents a recording with the content ‘eradicate anti-socialist and non-socialist phenomena.’ This is to warn against the pervasive South Korean culture.”
“Watching and distributing impure recordings is not limited to the provinces of South and North Pyongan, but is present in almost all regions, and these criminal activities are indeed a serious problem,” a narrator of the video says.
The source in North Hamgyong Province pointed out to RFA that “recently, the authorities have defined watching impure recordings as anti-socialist and anti-regime criminal activities and have intensified their crackdown. Despite this, there is a high interest in foreign movies, including South Korean films, among residents, which is a social phenomenon seen both in Pyongyang and nationwide.”
The source added that the authorities have defined all movies and dramas from other countries, except North Korean propaganda videos, as anti-socialist and anti-regime crimes. Even movies that depict regular human life are considered criminal if they are South Korean, the source told RFA.
[North Korea executes 30 teens for watching South Korean TV shows]
Furthermore, the source questioned, “Even though the authorities boast that our socialism is the most superior in the world, if they are trying so hard to block the eyes and ears of the residents, one can understand the reality of socialism. If our country (North Korea) were as ideal as the propaganda suggests, why would the authorities desperately try to block the residents’ eyes and ears?”
Another source in North Pyongan Province reported to RFA that “the authorities are now showing residents videos that depict cases of punishment for watching South Korean movies. The propaganda videos graphically show instances of people of all ages, including minors, being sentenced to life,” the source said.
“In the trial, Park Wi-ryong, a 17-year-old third-year student at Gwaksan Technical High School, along with Won Kyung-sim and two others, was sentenced to life labor re-education under the law ‘Reactionary Ideology and Culture of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,’” a narrator of the video says. “Park Wi-ryong, who received a life labor re-education sentence, conspired with delinquents to watch two films made by the puppet between mid-December 2020 and early January 2021.
The source mentioned that “residents’ reactions to the authorities sentencing people to life labor re-education for watching South Korean movies are cold. The anger of the parents, siblings, and families of the countless students, youth, and residents sentenced to life imprisonment through these recorded materials would be immense.”
Meanwhile, North Korea has reportedly executed around 30 teenage students for watching South Korean dramas.
Citing a South Korean government official, local cable channel TV Chosun recently reported on Thursday that the North Korean authorities publicly shot the middle school students in early July for allegedly watching South Korean dramas stored on USBs.
BY YOUNGNAM KIM [kim.youngnam@koreadaily.com]
