A video showed two teenage boys being sentenced in a North Korean court for watching K-dramas, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported Thursday.
The two teenagers were arraigned before a six-person panel in a stadium crowded with other masked young students. The video appeared to have been taken in 2022, according to the muted video shared by the outlet. Two officers were seen putting handcuffs on the boys’ wrists. The boys were reproved for not “deeply reflecting on their mistakes,” the BBC reported.
The boys’ names and addresses were revealed, and they were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.
The BBC reportedly obtained the rare video from the South and North Development (SAND) institute, a research organization that works with North Korean defectors. The video is reportedly widely distributed in North Korea for ideology education.
“The rotten puppet regime’s culture has spread even to teenagers,” a narrator in the video said, apparently alluding to South Korea, according to the BBC. “They are just 16 years old, but they ruined their own future.”
🚨BREAKING: Leaked footage obtained by BBC/Daily Mail show the harsh reality of life in North Korea. Teens handcuffed and sentenced to 12 yrs hard labor for watching South Korean TV. Seeking any outside culture in NK 🇰🇵 is punished severely. pic.twitter.com/B4TWuuH0iG
— NIGHT OWL NEWS – LIVE BREAKING NEWS 📰 (@NOWLTV) January 18, 2024
The North Korean regime tightly controls access to information in the hermit kingdom, with international internet access inaccessible to most, cell phone usage heavily surveilled and foreign media broadcasts and dramas forbidden, although South Korean dramas appear to be popular, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. (RELATED: Kim Jong Un Reportedly Introduces Ban Against ‘Non-Socialist’ Haircuts)
“[North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-un] personally ensures that the [North Korean] media only imparts content that praises the party, the military, and himself,” according to Reporters Without Borders (RWB) stated. The RWB ranked North Korea the lowest on its 2023 Press Freedom Index, just beneath China.
South Korean entertainment began making its way into North Korea in the 200s via South Korea’s “sunshine policy” of unconditional aid to the impoverished country, the BBC reported. Seoul reportedly ended the policy in 2010, alleging corruption and no positive change in Pyongyang’s disposition. Still, South Korean dramas kept getting smuggled into North Korea via China.