North Korean citizens, including schoolchildren, were executed for watching South Korean TV shows like “Squidward” and listening to K-pop music, according to new testimonies shared by Amnesty International.The testimony comes from in-depth interviews with 25 North Koreans, including 11 who fled the country between 2009 and 2020, The Independent reported. Most respondents were aged between 15 and 25 when they left. Fugitives described harsh and humiliating punishments for consuming foreign media, including death in the most extreme cases.One interviewee said they heard from a related fugitive that some people, including high school students, had been executed for watching a squid contest in Liangjiang province, near the Chinese border. The other previously recorded execution for spreading the show was in North Hamgyong Province in 2021. Amnesty International said the reports indicated multiple executions linked to the show.The fugitives also described the dangers of listening to foreign music, especially Korean pop, citing bands such as BTS in their testimonies. In 2021, a group of teenagers were reportedly investigated for listening to BTS in South Pyongyang Province, near the capital Pyongyang.In 2020, North Korea introduced the Anti-Reactionary Ideology and Culture Law, banning the consumption of South Korean content. The law stipulates that those who watch or possess South Korean TV dramas, music or movies will be punished with five to 15 years of forced labor, and those who disseminate large amounts of content or organize group viewings can be punished with the death penalty.Kim Eunju, 40, described witnessing executions as part of “ideological education.” “When we were 16, 17, in middle school, they took us to the execution and showed us everything,” she said. “People were executed for watching or spreading Korean media. This is ideological education: if you watch, it will happen to you too.”Choi So-moon, who fled North Korea in 2019, also recalled a public execution in Sinuiju in 2017 or 2018. “The authorities told everyone to leave, and tens of thousands of people in Sinuiju gathered to watch,” she said. “They execute people to brainwash and educate us,” she said, adding that people often sell their homes to avoid punishment. “People were caught for the same behavior, but the punishment was all about money. People who had no money sold their houses to raise $5,000 or $10,000 to pay for leaving the camps.“
