A rare video obtained by BBC Korean revealed an incident in North Korea, where two teenage boys were sentenced to 12 years of hard labour for watching K-dramas, BBC reports Thursday.
BBC reports that the video appeared to be filmed in 2022.
The two teenagers can be seen being restrained with handcuffs in front of a large crowd of students at an open-air stadium.
K-drama is short for ‘Korean drama’ which pertains to television series created in South Korea.
There is a ban on South Korean entertainment, including television shows, in North Korea.
Nevertheless, some individuals are willing to take the chance of facing severe consequences to watch K-dramas, which enjoy immense popularity worldwide, especially in Nigeria.
In 2022, one of the most-watched series on Netflix Nigeria is “Alchemy of Souls,” a Korean drama.
It is quite uncommon to come across footage like this, as North Korea strictly prohibits any form of media that reveals life within the country from being shared with the rest of the world.
The BBC received this video from the South and North Development (Sand), a research institute that collaborates with defectors from the North.
According to reports, the clip has been widely circulated in North Korea as part of ideology education and as a cautionary message against viewing inappropriate content.
The video includes a narrator saying, “The rotten puppet regime’s culture has spread even to teenagers. They are just 16 years old, but they ruined their own future,” BBC reports.
The boys were also named by officers and had their addresses revealed.
Findings by Western media revealed that in the past, youngsters who committed this type of offence would be sent to youth labour camps instead of being incarcerated, and the duration of the punishment was typically under five years
