Recently surfaced footage shows North Korea parading around teenage girls and forcing them to apologize after they were caught consuming foreign media.
The video was obtained by South Korean production company KBS Media and showed a public denunciation session where a group of young girls were arrested and publicly humiliated for the offense.
Highlights
- North Korea paraded and humiliated teenage girls for watching foreign media.
- The girls were forced to apologize in a public denunciation session.
- The footage was broadcast across North Korea as a warning to citizens.
Having watched South Korean media, including South Korean drama shows, the girls were put on display and forced to apologize.
A group of teenage girls were publicly paraded and shamed for watching international TV shows
Image credits: KBS News
The released video shows a young girl — only identified as Choi — breaking down in tears as she was positioned in front of the microphone.
“I made the mistake of listening to and distributing impure published propaganda,” she said in the hearing before being led away in handcuffs.
Image credits: KBS News
KBS reported that the video was broadcast all over North Korea as an “educational” warning to its citizens.
North Korea has banned all forms of international means of communication, viewing it as a disloyal act by citizens
Image credits: KBS News
Pyongyang maintains tight control over the flow of information within its borders, banning citizens from accessing foreign music, films, and TV series.
Those caught violating these laws can face punishments such as public shaming, prison, and even the death penalty.
Image credits: KBS News
The Kim Jong Un regime sees South Korean media as a threat to its ideological purity and has heightened restrictions in recent years.
Earlier this year, two teenage boys were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for distributing K-dramas
Image credits: KBS News
Two 16-year-old boys were handcuffed in front of hundreds of students at an outdoor stadium. Soldiers chastised them for not “deeply reflecting on their mistakes.”
This footage, which appeared to have been filmed in 2022, is rare due to North Korea’s rule that photos, videos, and other evidence of life cannot be leaked to the outside world.
Despite this rule, some are prepared to face severe consequences to access foreign shows, especially Kdramas, which have amassed a huge audience.
North Korea’s rigid control over media has only intensified since the pandemic. Laws that target foreign cultural products such as media and South Korean slang have been enacted, dubbed as “evil law.” These were made to ensure loyalty to the regime.