North Korea has executed school-age youths and sent others to labor camps for watching or sharing banned South Korean entertainment, including the Netflix series “Squid Game,” Amnesty International said in a report based on interviews with people who fled the country.
The claims, which cannot be independently verified, add fresh detail to long-running warnings that North Korea is tightening controls on outside information as it tries to block what it calls “reactionary” culture. Amnesty said the punishments described by escapees include public executions, long forced labor sentences, and public shaming of children, with the harshest outcomes falling on those who lack money or connections to bribe officials.
Amnesty said it conducted 25 interviews in 2025 with North Koreans who had left the country and described a campaign that targets teenagers for consuming South Korean television, music and slang. Several interviewees told the group that students were punished after being caught with videos on phones or on small storage devices, and that classmates were sometimes forced to watch punishments as a warning. Amnesty said the crackdown is tied to a law passed in 2020 that set steep penalties for possessing South Korean content and even harsher punishment for distributing it.
According to the report, North Korean authorities treat entertainment from the South as a threat because it shows a different lifestyle and undermines state propaganda about the outside world. Defectors described regular searches of phones and personal belongings, raids on homes, and neighborhood surveillance meant to detect illegal media. Amnesty said some interviewees referred to a special enforcement unit commonly known as the “109 Group,” which they said carried out searches and interrogations focused on foreign videos and music. Several said the mere suspicion of watching a show could lead to detentions and forced confessions.
In some accounts, students were caught sharing dramas and music through group chats or swapping files at school. Amnesty said interviewees described teenagers being sentenced to years of forced labor for viewing South Korean content, while those accused of distributing it faced even more severe punishment. Some defectors said punishments were carried out publicly, with crowds required to attend, including children who were told to watch as part of “ideological education.” Amnesty said those events were described as deeply traumatizing and designed to create fear rather than simply punish an individual.
The report’s mention of “Squid Game,” a global hit about deadly competition and debt, underscored how popular South Korean media remains even under intense repression. Defectors said videos and music still enter North Korea through smuggling networks, often via China, and are shared quietly through USB drives, memory cards and phones. Several interviewees described a constant game of cat-and-mouse: new files arrive, consumption spreads rapidly through trusted circles, and then security agents sweep neighborhoods to confiscate devices and arrest suspected viewers.
Amnesty said the severity of punishment often depended on status. Interviewees described bribery as a common way for wealthy families to reduce penalties or avoid prosecution, while poorer families faced the strictest consequences. Defectors said some officials and police also consumed banned media, a contradiction that fuels corruption and selective enforcement. Amnesty said that dynamic leaves ordinary citizens vulnerable because they cannot predict whether a violation will be ignored, quietly “resolved” with a bribe, or turned into a public example.
North Korea’s government tightly controls domestic media and blocks most citizens from accessing the open internet. Radios and televisions are typically fixed to state frequencies, and possession of unauthorized media has long been criminalized. Amnesty said the post-2020 enforcement described by defectors reflects a broader push by leader Kim Jong Un to strengthen ideological discipline, particularly among young people who may be more attracted to South Korean pop culture. In the report, defectors described school programs that warn students against “decadent” foreign influence and encourage peers to report one another.
Human rights groups have for years documented harsh punishment in North Korea’s criminal justice system, including political prison camps, forced labor and executions. Amnesty said its new findings focus on how those tools are being applied to cultural consumption, not just political dissent. The group said the cases described by interviewees show that the state treats entertainment as a security issue, with punishments that are out of proportion to the alleged conduct and aimed at discouraging any curiosity about life outside the country.
Outside experts say it is difficult to confirm specific episodes inside North Korea because independent investigators cannot freely operate there, and state media does not report sensitive cases. That leaves defectors’ accounts as a key window into how policies are enforced, though details can vary from one area to another and from one time period to the next. Amnesty said it sought to cross-check interviews for consistency, but it acknowledged the limits of documentation in a closed country and urged governments to press Pyongyang for access and accountability.
The report is likely to sharpen attention on North Korea’s information blockade at a moment when South Korean entertainment is more visible worldwide than ever. “Squid Game,” K-pop and other exports have become symbols of South Korea’s global influence, and North Korean authorities have tried to counter that pull by cracking down on South Korean hairstyles, words and even clothing styles, according to past accounts from defectors and researchers. Amnesty said the punishments described by its interviewees show that the state is willing to use extreme violence to prevent cultural change from taking root among the young.
Amnesty called on North Korea to repeal or amend laws that criminalize access to information and to stop punishing people for peaceful expression. It also urged the international community to document abuses, support survivors, and pursue accountability through global human rights mechanisms. North Korea has repeatedly denied accusations of widespread rights abuses and has criticized outside reports as politically motivated, while restricting access that could allow independent verification.
For now, Amnesty said, the next step is more documentation: identifying patterns across regions, collecting additional testimony, and tracking how the 2020 law is applied in courts and security agencies. The group said the stories it collected point to a consistent message delivered to young North Koreans — that watching a television show or listening to a song can carry life-altering consequences. Amnesty said it expects more defectors to come forward with similar accounts as information about the report spreads.
Author note: Last updated February 8, 2026.