North Korea publicly executed a 22-year-old citizen for listening to and spreading K-pop music and films, according to South Korea.
According to testimonies published in the North Korean Human Rights report by South Korea’s unification ministry on Thursday, a man from South Hwanghae province in the Hermit Kingdom was executed in 2022 for listening to 70 South Korean songs, watching three films, and distributing them. The execution was made public.
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According to the report, which gathers testimonies from 649 North Korean defectors, Pyongyang has been ruthless in its efforts to suppress Western influence and restrict the flow of information into the country.
In 2020, North Korea implemented a new law that further strengthened the ban on K-pop. The law was enacted to protect citizens from what the government deemed as the “malign influence” of Western culture. This law prohibits any form of “reactionary ideology and culture,” including K-pop.
According to the North’s leadership, the accusations of human rights violations made against the government are baseless and are simply part of a larger scheme to overthrow them.
South Korean customs, such as brides wearing white dresses, grooms carrying the bride, drinking alcohol from wine glasses, and even wearing sunglasses are seen as “reactionary” practices and are penalized by authorities.
The report states that North Koreans undergo frequent inspections of their mobile phones, which include scrutinizing contact names for spelling errors, as well as monitoring expressions and slang terms.
In their 2023 world report, Human Rights Watch stated that North Korea does not tolerate pluralism and imposes a ban on independent media, civil society organisations, and trade unions. The government systematically denies basic liberties, including freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, association, as well as freedom of religion and belief.
According to a young female defector in her early 20s, the influence of South Korean culture on North Korea is spreading at an incredibly fast rate. She observed that the younger generation in North Korea is particularly drawn to and enamored with everything South Korean, often emulating and adopting their cultural trends and practices.
According to The Guardian, many young people question their way of life after watching Korean dramas. One woman even expressed that she would rather die than live in North Korea, saying, “Why do we have to live like this?”
She added that while it’s not appropriate to speak negatively about Kim Jong-un in public, it’s not uncommon for close friends, family members, or romantic partners to express negative sentiments among themselves.
According to human rights groups, North Korea has conducted executions in public places such as villages and prison camps, where large crowds could witness them.
The organization has been making efforts to avoid carrying out executions in densely populated residential areas. This is due to the challenges faced by authorities in keeping track of the individuals attending such executions. Additionally, the group has discontinued holding executions near its borders and at facilities that can be easily monitored by satellites.
On Tuesday, the South issued a warning to restart their anti-Pyongyang frontline propaganda broadcasts. This comes after North Korea resumed their trash-carrying balloon launches, resulting in a new round of Cold War-style campaigns between the two rivals.
In what appears to be a retaliatory move against South Korean activists who have been using balloons to send political leaflets, North Korea has launched massive balloons carrying plastic bags of trash across the border for the fifth time since late May.
The 1950-1953 Korean War ended with an armistice, which means that the two Koreas are still technically at war and no peace treaty has been signed yet.
