North Korea executed a 22-year-old man for listening to and sharing K-pop music. This reflects the regime’s ongoing crackdown on foreign cultural influences.
The severe punishment is part of the government’s efforts to control and restrict information and culture from outside its borders. These details come from the South Korean 2024 Report on North Korean Human Rights. The report is based on accounts from 649 defectors who escaped from North Korea.
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According to a witness, a young man from South Hwanghae province was publicly executed in 2022. He was accused of listening to 70 South Korean songs, watching three films, and sharing them with others.
North Korea’s ban on K-pop began during the rule of former leader Kim Jong Il. This was to shield citizens from perceived harmful aspects of Western culture. His successor, Kim Jong Un, tightened these restrictions. In 2020, Kim Jong Un implemented a law banning “reactionary ideology and culture.”
North Korea denies accusations of serious human rights abuses. They claim these allegations are part of a plot to overthrow the government.
The report notes that in North Korea, mobile phones are regularly checked for South Korean contact names, phrases, and slang words.
In a related incident, Kim Jong Un reportedly executed a general by throwing him into a fish tank filled with piranhas. This unusual execution method took place at Kim’s residence in Ryongsong. The incident underscores Kim’s ruthless approach to maintaining power and dealing with threats within his regime. This execution adds to North Korea’s history of using brutal tactics to suppress dissent and control its population.
