North Korea is reportedly executing children publicly for consuming South Korean media, including TV dramas and K-pop music, according to new testimonies collected by Amnesty International. Defectors from the authoritarian state told the human rights group that engaging with South Korean pop culture can lead to severe punishments, ranging from labour camp sentences and public humiliation to death, while wealthier families sometimes evade penalties by bribing officials.
Many defectors described a climate of fear in which South Korean content is treated as a serious crime. Witnesses said they were forced to attend public executions as part of “ideological education.” Choi Suvin recounted seeing someone executed in Sinuiju in 2017 or 2018 for distributing foreign media. “Authorities told everyone to go, and tens of thousands gathered to watch,” she said. “They execute people to brainwash and educate us.” Another defector, Kim Eunju, said students as young as 16 or 17 were made to attend executions while in middle school.
The testimonies also reveal that the spread of South Korean media has accelerated in recent years. Popular dramas such as Crash Landing on You and Descendants of the Sun were cited, and one defector reported that even Squid Game led to executions of high school students. Listening to K-pop, including BTS songs, is also punishable, with teenagers previously targeted for consuming the music.
Amnesty International conducted 25 in-depth interviews in 2025 with North Korean escapees, most aged 15 to 25 at the time of their departure. The testimonies highlight the country’s strict information control under the 2020 Anti-Reactionary Thought and Culture Act, which mandates five to 15 years of forced labour for watching or possessing South Korean media. The law also allows for the death penalty in cases of distributing large amounts of content or organising group viewings.
Defectors also reported efforts to bypass these restrictions, including sending balloons with anti-regime leaflets and USB drives containing South Korean media into North Korea.
Sarah Brooks, Deputy Regional Director at Amnesty International, said: “These testimonies show a dystopian system where simply watching a South Korean TV show can cost you your life—unless you can pay bribes. This government criminalises access to information, profiting from fear, while suppressing fundamental human rights. The entire population is trapped in an ideological cage, and this system of arbitrary fear and corruption must be dismantled.”
