Teenagers in North Korea are being executed for watching Squid Game

People in North Korea, including high school students, are allegedly being executed for watching Squid Game.

According to shocking new testimonies gathered by Amnesty International, residents of the East Asian country are being 'sent to labour camps or subjected to brutal public humiliation' for watching South Korean TV shows or listening to K-pop music.

North Korea is home to more than 25 million people, who live under a form of communist rule that strictly controls all areas of their daily life.

Those who have managed to flee Supreme Leader and dictator Kim Jong-Un’s regime have told the international human rights organisation of the extreme punishments people are facing, including death.

South Korean dramas which are popular around the world, such as Crash Landing on You, Descendants of the Sun and Squid Game, are all strictly forbidden.

And according to the human rights organisation, those without money or connections are facing the harshest consequences, as people who come from wealthier families are sometimes able to bribe officials to avoid the death sentence.

Amnesty International has detailed how North Koreans are being executed for watching Squid Games (Netflix)

North Korea has one of the world’s most restrictive information environments, where accessing foreign culture or information is actively punished.

Radio Free Asia reported in 2021 that one student who smuggled copies of Squid Game into North Korea from China was sentenced to death by firing squad.

And in the newest Amnesty International report, one interviewee said they heard from an escapee with family connections in Yanggang Province that people, including high school students, were executed for watching the popular Netflix show.

And others described instances of schools ordering students to attend executions to scare them into not watching.

Kim Eunju, 40, told the publication: "When we were 16, 17, in middle school, they took us to executions and showed us everything. People were executed for watching or distributing South Korean media. It's ideological education: if you watch, this happens to you too."

Kim Jong Un is the Supreme Leader of North Korea (KCNA VIA KNS / AFP via Getty Images)

It follows the introduction of the 2020 Anti-Reactionary Thought and Culture Act - a law which defines South Korean content as 'rotten ideology that paralyses the people's revolutionary sense'.

It outlines sentences of between five and 15 years of forced labour for watching or possessing South Korean dramas, films or music, as well as heavier sentences, including the death penalty, for distributing 'large amounts' of content or organising group viewings.

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."

She added: “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."

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