00:00 "Puppets in My Head...": Summary Execution for Watching K-Dramas
02:20 Does Punishment Completely Change Depending on Bribes and Connections?
03:59 A North Korean Version of "When Life Gives You Tangerines"? Copying K-Dramas
1. "Puppets in My Head"…Summary Execution for Watching K-Dramas
Hello, I am Kim A-young from the SBS Foreign Affairs and Security Team. Today, let us start by looking at the footage before discussing the story. A man is hunched over, writing intensely. Although we cannot see clearly what he wrote, he filled two full pages. The man who wrote the letter says:
["While watching impure recordings once or twice, the speech of the puppets gradually filled my head... I deeply, deeply regret it."]
This is an excerpt from ideological education material for North Korean soldiers, released by Radio Free Asia (RFA) in the United States. "Puppet speech," of course, refers to the South Korean way of speaking. It appears he was caught after watching banned South Korean dramas or movies, followed by messages warning that one must never follow in this person's footsteps. They emphasize that violators will inevitably get caught someday.
["Even knowing that it is an act of aiding the enemy and treason—dancing to the enemies' tune—watching impure enemy recordings is the path to becoming the world's most foolish suicide case, ruining one's own fate..."]
Let us look at another scene. A soldier and women in civilian clothing stand with their heads bowed in front of an auditorium, and handcuffs are soon clamped onto their wrists. They also appear to be individuals caught watching or distributing so-called impure audio and video recordings, and a speaker at the discussion even calls for summary execution.
["In the name of all military unit personnel, I strongly demand that these individuals, thoroughly steeped in imperialist ideological culture and lifestyles, be summarily executed to bring down a merciless hammer of retribution."]
It was also reported that soldiers, who are strictly forbidden from using mobile phones, were caught secretly watching banned videos. The speaker on screen reported that those caught watching external videos were sentenced to more than five years of reform through labor, and that they are excluded from pardons. Reform through labor is similar to imprisonment in our legal system, though carried out under far harsher conditions. The video was produced in 2023 and is reportedly still being used as educational material today. North Korea enacted the Law on Rejecting Reactionary Ideology and Culture in 2020, significantly intensifying punishments against the influx of outside culture. It is presumed that this video was created as educational material following that enactment.
2. Does Punishment Completely Change Depending on Bribes and Connections?
The fact that North Korea produces and forces people to watch such videos indicates just how wary it is of related trends. Looking at it from another angle, it also shows that watching South Korean dramas and movies has spread widely across the country. The Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), a state-run research institute, publishes the "White Paper on North Korean Human Rights" every year. Looking closer at what is documented there, one defector who participated in the survey said North Korean authorities had tightened crackdowns on watching foreign videos since around 2019, stating that South Korean movies cost "one year of reform through labor per hour." The defector added that someone was actually sentenced to seven years for watching seven hours of South Korean movies. Another defector recounted that in October 2022, a 22-year-old resident in the Yongyon area of South Hwanghae Province was publicly executed after watching and distributing illegal recordings. There are also testimonies that a dedicated unit called Group 109 conducts frequent surprise searches and crackdowns on homes. Yet, even if caught watching, not everyone is punished under the same standards. What does this mean? The outcome changes completely depending on the amount of bribes paid or connections used. One defector, whose son was caught listening to South Korean music in 2018, confessed that paying 15,000 yuan (about 3.15 million won) reduced the penalty to a six-month sentence. According to a survey by the human rights group Amnesty International, there was even a case where someone avoided punishment despite getting caught watching South Korean dramas three times, thanks to family connections.
3. A North Korean Version of "When Life Gives You Tangerines"? Copying K-Dramas
Fundamentally, North Korean movies and dramas aim to instill ideological education, making them quite dull compared to South Korean productions. North Korean residents seeking out outside content seems, in a sense, a natural behavior. North Korea also seems to realize that punishment alone cannot resolve the issue. This is because authorities are trying various approaches to divert people's attention away from external content by making their own productions different. One example is the drama "New Spring in Baekhak Plain," which aired on Korean Central Television last year. Because it is set in a rural community, it feels familiar like a North Korean version of "Country Diaries," or in contemporary terms, perhaps the North Korean version of "When Life Gives You Tangerines". It features quite a few romantic storylines between men and women. There is even a scene like this. To provide some context, the older woman is the mother of the man the younger woman is dating.
["It's not just about you two liking each other. Don't you think? Our Yeong-deok seems crazy about you, comrade. Do you have any idea how I raised our Yeong-deok? So I hope you conduct yourself properly."]
A mother turning away after rejecting her child's lover because their family backgrounds do not match—doesn't this look like something you have seen in K-dramas? It seems North Korea has borrowed such clichés. In another drama, provocative elements such as murder and extramarital affairs were placed throughout the story. North Korea appears to be striving to present highly stimulating, intense dramas, but even so, there still seem to be major limitations in closing that gap. Following its deepening ties with Russia, a Russian singer held a rock concert that was even broadcast on Korean Central Television for residents to watch. This may be rooted in the calculation that introducing Russian culture is less threatening than South Korean culture, which shares the same language. We will have to wait and see how effective the North Korean regime's attempts to redirect residents' attention to its own content or that of friendly nations will be, all while strictly cracking down on South Korean culture.
(Reported by Kim Ayeong | Scripted by Shin Hee-sook | Camera by Choi Ho-jun | Video by Ahn Jun-hyeok | Design by Lee Jeong-joo | Source: RFA | Produced by SBS Digital News)
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