North Korean nationals will be executed for trying to bring back Netflix’s Squid Game.
A student is believed to be the smuggler who returned from China with a digital edition of South Korean TV series on hidden USB flash drives.
However, he sold copies of the book to many people, including students. He was then caught by country surveillance.
He will be executed now by firing squad, one of many grim ways in which other characters are killed.
A council in England has warned parents to not allow their kids to see the Netflix hit Squid Game. It is violent and graphic.
It is believed that the arrests took place in the country’s North Hamgyong province which borders with China over the last week.
Radio Free Asia reported that one student who bought a copy of the drive has since received a life sentence, while six others who watched the show have been sentenced to five years hard labor.
North Korea bans any material from South Korea or the West. Authorities are conducting searches in schools to locate foreign media.
Some teachers may have had to be fired, or they could go to prison for working in remote mines.
According to a source from law enforcement, the story began last week with a student at high school who secretly purchased a flash drive that contained the South Korean drama Squid Game. He then watched the film with one of his closest friends.
According to the source, the two discussed the series together with their friends. They became interested in it and purchased copies.
Squid Game depicts a dystopian future in which people with high debts are pitted against one another in Korean games for children, with the losing player being executed. This is clearly reflected in North Koreans who live under dictatorship.
But the students were then caught by the government’s surveillance service – 109 Sangmu – who had ‘received a tipoff’ that they were watching a Western TV show.
According to one source, the arrest of seven students is the first instance in which the government has applied the law on the “Elimination of Reactionary Thought and Culture” in a case involving minors.
A maximum death penalty is applied to media from capitalist nations, especially South Korea or the US.
Source says that punishment does not stop at the student who watched the video. Other students with no connection will be made responsible.
According to the source, the government took the matter seriously.
“The Central Committee dismissed their school principal, youth secretary and homeroom teacher.
The South Korean series, which is currently the most streamed show in the US and in the UK, centres around a fictional game show in which poverty-stricken characters compete in a series of death games to win a £27million cash prize
“They were also removed from the party. Source said that the party is sure that the students will either be exiled or sent to work in coal mining areas.
RFA spoke with a local resident who said that after the student’s arrest, authorities searched the markets for video CDs and memory storage devices.
The second source said that residents fear being punished mercilessly for selling or buying memory storage devices.