North Korean students have reportedly been executed for watching and sharing South Korean videos, with classmates allegedly forced to watch the killings as a brutal warning against consuming foreign media. The shocking claims emerged from testimony gathered by human rights groups and defectors who describe a crackdown on South Korean culture under leader Kim Jong-un.
Brutal Crackdown on Foreign Media
According to reports, young people caught watching dramas, films, television programmes or listening to music (K-pop) from its neighbour can face severe punishment ranging from public humiliation and lengthy labour camp sentences to execution in the most extreme cases. Former residents who fled the isolated dictatorship state have previously revealed that authorities routinely use public punishments to deter others from accessing foreign content.
The latest shocking incident is said to have taken place in late May in Haeju, South Hwanghae province.
Secret Club and Execution Details
Two men, who had recently graduated from university, were accused of organising a secret club that watched South Korean television shows, films and other banned foreign content before distributing it to fellow students, according to a source who spoke to Daily NK. The pair also allegedly kept notes criticising government policies and compared conditions in North Korea to information about development in other countries.
The activities reportedly attracted the attention of North Korea's secret police, the National Intelligence Agency, who concluded the young men were attempting to undermine the state. The source claimed the pair were arrested earlier this year and handed death sentences following rushed legal proceedings. The executions allegedly took place at 10pm at a secret site on the outskirts of Haeju.
Forced Attendance and Secret Burials
Authorities reportedly forced student representatives from the men's former university and officials from the Socialist Patriotic Youth League to attend under heavy guard. It was also claimed that the men's bodies were not returned to their families and were instead secretly buried after being removed from the site.
"The authorities made an example of educated young men who had graduated and were awaiting job assignments, exploiting the fact that national attention was focused on rice-planting mobilization in South Hwanghae province's farming villages," the source told Daily NK. "They forcibly assembled student representatives at night under heavy guard and carried out the execution."
Atmosphere of Fear
The incident has reportedly created an atmosphere of fear at universities across the city. "Students are in a state of extreme psychological panic," the source said, adding that some questioned why they were being sent to support agricultural work during the day while classmates were allegedly being executed at night.
The claims come amid an ongoing crackdown on foreign media under Kim Jong-un's regime. North Korea's Anti-Reactionary Thought and Culture Act – formally the Law on Rejecting Reactionary Ideology and Culture – imposes harsh punishments on citizens caught consuming or distributing foreign entertainment. The regime views this content as "rotten ideology" that threatens totalitarian control and state stability.
