We all know how North Koreans don’t really kid around and they’ve taken some very nominal matters very seriously. A man in the country was sentenced to death for bringing back a copy of Netflix’s Squid Game into the country.
The apparent smuggler is a student who had gone to China and brought a digital copy of the famous Korean show on a USB flash drive. However, after selling copies to several people including fellow students he was caught out by the country’s surveillance services.
A student who bought one of the flash drives received a life sentence, while six others who watched the footage have been sentenced to five years of hard labor. Teachers and administrators at the school were also fired or faced forced labor in remote mines, sources told the outlet.
Radio Free Asia reported last week that the hit series had made its way in the reclusive hermit kingdom despite efforts by North Korean authorities to keep it out of the country, where foreign media is banned.
The student that purchased the hard drive reportedly received a life sentence in prison, and six other students who watched received five years of hard labor. In addition to that, the government fired the students’ teachers and other school administrators who failed to notice the illegal activity, and they will likely be sent to remote mines to work hard labor. The act apparently has other educators in North Korea worried they’ll suffer the same fate, even though they may not be explicitly involved in illegal activity.
The smuggler sentenced to death is only the latest to face harsh penalties as a result of sneaking illegal media into North Korea. Reports say a man was also sentenced to death by firing squad for distributing CDs and other South Korean media.
Penalties for disobeying North Korea’s Elimination of Reactionary Thought and Culture are steep, but reportedly not completely unavoidable. Of the seven students punished, one allegedly came from a wealthy family and was able to avoid punishment for $3,000.
North Korean propaganda is often focused on the notion that people in capitalist societies are poor, oppressed, and miserable.