South Korean Drama Watched, Then 'Cheolkeong'... North Korean Teens Sentenced to 12 Years of Labor

"If you get caught watching American dramas, you can bribe your way out, but if you watch South Korean dramas, you get shot." This is what a defector recently said, as a video was released showing two teenage boys in North Korea receiving heavy sentences for watching South Korean dramas. On the 18th (local time), the BBC reported, "A North Korean video believed to have been filmed in 2022 shows two 16-year-old boys handcuffed and standing in front of hundreds of students in an outdoor exercise yard."

North Korean teenage boys being sentenced to labor punishment. [Image provided by SAND Institute]

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The video shows two North Korean teenage boys being sentenced to 12 years of labor reform for watching South Korean dramas. The officer scolds the boys, saying they "do not deeply reflect" on their actions. A North Korean announcer in the video explains, "These minors, barely 16 years old and at the beginning of their lives, were seduced by foreign culture and recklessly ruined their own futures."

The video was reportedly provided by the SAND Institute in South Korea, an academic organization composed of researchers from both North and South Korea. It is a video someone recorded on a mobile phone from materials distributed by Pyongyang city in 2022 for resident education. Judging by the Pyongyang residents wearing masks, it is estimated to have been filmed around November 2021 to January 2022, when COVID-19 was rampant.

In the past, the average sentence for minors in such cases was less than five years, but the situation changed after a 2020 law was enacted that imposes the death penalty for watching or distributing South Korean entertainment. A defector in their 20s told the BBC, "In North Korea, we are taught that South Korea is much poorer than us, but South Korean dramas show a completely different world. It seems the North Korean authorities are wary of that."

The BBC explained, "During South Korea's 'Sunshine Policy' in the 2000s, North Korean residents began to get a taste of South Korean entertainment. Although the South Korean government ended the policy in 2010, stating it brought no positive changes in North Korea's behavior, South Korean entertainment continued to enter North Korea through China."

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