Watching TV Show Could Cost You Your Life in North Korea
Under Kim Jong Un’s regime, North Koreans face severe penalties, including execution, for consuming South Korean media, despite the risks, many continue to watch K-dramas in secret.
In North Korea, under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, watching a popular TV show could literally cost you your life. Since 2020, the Anti-Reactionary Thought Law has banned citizens from consuming, possessing, or distributing “the rotten ideology and culture of enemy forces,” which includes South Korean TV shows, K-pop, books, photos, and music.
The penalties for violating this law are severe, ranging from forced labor and imprisonment in camps to execution. In 2022, a 22-year-old farmer was executed for listening to 70 South Korean songs and sharing three movies with friends. Despite the dangers, North Koreans continue to watch K-dramas in secret. A survey of defectors from 2016 to 2020 revealed that 83% admitted to watching these shows before fleeing the country.
Kang Gyu-ri, who defected in 2023, told The Economist that among her peers, no one had not watched at least one foreign video—they just didn’t talk about it openly.
Only Love for the Leader is Allowed
To understand the appeal of South Korean media, one only needs to look at what North Koreans are allowed to watch. Films like Flower in the Snow (2011) depict characters abandoning their loved ones to work in blanket factories or growing up as orphans. Love is portrayed as something reserved only for the leader.
Former athlete Ryu Hee-jin said, “In North Korea, you only say ‘I love you’ to Kim Jong Un and his father.” In contrast, K-dramas like The Queen of May (2012) show characters pursuing their dreams, falling in love, fighting, and succeeding. Kang recalled watching the film for the first time on a smuggled SD card at midnight and then rewatching it twenty times.
South Korea Portrayed as a Hellscape
For North Koreans, television is also a source of information. State propaganda portrays South Korea as a hellscape of crime and poverty. However, the luxurious apartments, bustling streets, and lavish meals depicted in K-dramas contradict this narrative.
The more dazzling life in South Korea appears, the stronger the desire to escape becomes. Even hairstyles banned in the North symbolize the freedoms enjoyed in the South. In 2023, a new law was enacted to “preserve Pyongyang’s cultural language,” banning words like “oppa” (a term South Korean women use to address their boyfriends).
