North Korea ‘executes youngsters in public for watching Squid Game and listening to Okay-pop giants BTS’
North Korea is said to be publicly executing children for watching South Korean TV shows and listening to K-pop music.
In new testimonies gathered by the human rights organisation Amnesty International, North Koreans who fled the authoritarian country said that consuming globally popular South Korean media and pop culture can lead to extreme punishments – like being sent to labour camps or being publicly humiliated – and even death.
Defectors described a climate of fear in which South Korean culture is treated as a serious crime, while wealthier families can sometimes avoid punishment by paying bribes to corrupt officials.
Interviewees described being forced, as schoolchildren, to attend public executions as part of their ‘ideological education’.
Choi Suvin witnessed a public execution in Sinuiju in 2017 or 2018 of someone accused of distributing foreign media.
‘Authorities told everyone to go, and tens of thousands of people from Sinuiju city gathered to watch,’ she said. ‘They execute people to brainwash and educate us.’
Others described schools systematically ordering students to attend executions.
‘When we were 16, 17, in middle school, they took us to executions and showed us everything,’ said Kim Eunju, 40.
North Korea is publicly executing children for watching South Korean TV shows and listening to K-pop music. File photo shows South Korean supergroup BTS in 2022
North Korean defectors described a climate of fear in which South Korean culture is treated as a serious crime. FIle photo shows North Korean leader Mim Jong Un in 2024
‘People were executed for watching or distributing South Korean media. It’s ideological education: if you watch, this happens to you too.’
North Korean defectors also said that newer South Korean content was reaching North Korea faster than in previous decades.
They mentioned popular South Korean dramas from the 2010s, including Crash Landing on You, noted for its North Korea setting, and Descendants of the Sun, which features military themes.
One interviewee reported hearing from an escapee with family connections in Yanggang Province that people, including high school students, were executed for watching Squid Game.
Radio Free Asia separately documented an execution in North Hamgyong Province in 2021 for distributing the series.
Interviewees also said that listening to South Korean pop music is targeted by authorities.
They mentioned K-pop songs, including those by boy band BTS.
In 2021, The Korea Times reported that North Korean teenagers were caught and punished for listening to BTS.
Amnesty International conducted 25 in-depth individual interviews with North Korean escapees in 2025. The group included 11 individuals who fled North Korea between 2019 and 2020, with the most recent departure in June 2020.
Most were aged between 15 and 25 at the time of their escape.
North Korea has long maintained one of the world’s most restrictive information environments.
The country’s 2020 Anti-Reactionary Thought and Culture Act mandates between five and 15 years of forced labour for watching or possessing South Korean dramas, films or music.
One interviewee reported that people, including high school students, were executed for watching Squid Game
The law also prescribes heavy sentences, including the death penalty, for distributing ‘large amounts’ of content or organising group viewings.
North Korean defectors living across the border have been known to send balloons to the North side containing anti-regime leaflets.
They have also reportedly sent USB memory sticks of Korean pop music and videos/
Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director, said: ‘These testimonies show how North Korea is enforcing dystopian laws that mean watching a South Korean TV show can cost you your life – unless you can afford to pay.
‘The authorities criminalise access to information in violation of international law, then allow officials to profit off those fearing punishment. This is repression layered with corruption, and it most devastates those without wealth or connections.
‘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. People who strive to learn more about the world outside North Korea, or seek simple entertainment from overseas, face the harshest of punishments.
‘This completely arbitrary system, built on fear and corruption, violates fundamental principles of justice and internationally recognised human rights. It must be dismantled.’
