North Korea, media: high school students executed for watching Squid Game

Rome, February 6 (LaPresse) – High school students executed for watching Squid Game or listening to K-pop. This is what allegedly happened in North Korea, according to Sky News, which cited 25 interviews conducted by Amnesty International with people who managed to escape Kim Jong-un’s regime. The interviewees told of high school students being executed in Yanggang province, near the Chinese border, for watching Squid Game. Another report on the matter had already been made by Radio Free Asia in 2021. The interviewees also described the dangers of listening to foreign music, particularly K-pop. In 2021, the Korea Times reported that a group of teenagers was caught and investigated for listening to a South Korean band. Choi Suvin, who fled North Korea in 2019, said that people would sell their homes to avoid punishment. “The punishment depends entirely on money,” said the 39-year-old. According to the interviewees, people, including schoolchildren, were forced to attend public executions as part of their “ideological education.” Sarah Brooks, Amnesty’s deputy regional director, said: “These testimonies show how North Korea is enforcing dystopian laws where watching a South Korean TV program can cost you your life, unless you can afford to pay.” “This is repression mixed with corruption, which mainly affects those who have no wealth or connections,” she added.