South Korea has said that in 2022, a 22-year-old man was publicly executed by North Korea for sharing and listening to K-pop music and South Korean films. The information is taken from testimonials of North Korean defectors that were published in a human rights report by the South Korean ministry of unification.
According to the report, the man from South Hwanghae province was accused of listening to 70 K-pop songs, watching 3 South Korean films, and distributing this prohibited media.
North Korea has strict control over the information its citizens consume, includes strict rules regarding entertainment consumption, and has very harsh punishments for those who violate them.
The report further reveals that North Korea tightened its grip on outside culture in 2020 with a law banning “reactionary ideology and culture.” This law is seen as a tool to shield citizens from Western influences, which the North Korean government considers detrimental.
North Korea has consistently denied accusations of human rights violations, calling them attempts to undermine its leadership.
The ban on K-pop is part of an effort to protect North Koreans from the negative influence of Western culture. This campaign began under the former leader, Kim Jong-il, and has become more intense under his son, Kim Jong-un.
In 2022, Radio Free Asia, funded by the US government, reported that the regime was cracking down on “capitalist” fashion and hairstyles. This included targeting skinny jeans, T-shirts with foreign words, and dyed or long hair.
Experts believe that allowing South Korean popular culture to enter North Korean society could threaten the ideology that demands complete loyalty to the “infallible” Kim dynasty, which has ruled the country since its founding in 1948.
Despite these strict measures, the influence of South Korean culture, including recent television shows, seems unstoppable, according to a recent North Korean defector.