By 
06-02-2026 | Miriam Schanz | Asia Team Researcher, Global Human Rights Defence.
North Korea is using public executions and forced labour to violently suppress the consumption of South Korean media under its restrictive “Anti-Reactionary” laws.
According to recent testimonies collected by Amnesty International, individuals in North Korea, including schoolchildren, are being publicly executed, sent to labour camps, or brutally humiliated for consuming South Korean media. The harshest penalties can result from listening to K-pop groups like BTS or watching popular K-dramas like Squid Game or Crash Landing on You. The government’s fear of information has effectively put the entire population in an “ideological cage” criminalising access to outside opinions and entertainment in violation of international law.
This repression has been exacerbated by the 2020 Anti-Reactionary Thought and Culture Act, which describes South Korean content as “rotten ideology” that stifles revolutionary spirit. The law stipulates the death penalty for distributing large amounts of content and requires years of forced labour for possession. Specialised units such as the 109 Group perform warrantless searches of residences and cell phones and are responsible for enforcing the law. The system is rife with corruption; while wealthy families can frequently evade punishment by paying large bribes to officials, those without resources or connections suffer the most severe and disastrous repercussions.
In order to enforce this ideological education, authorities routinely force its individuals, including middle school pupils, to attend public executions. Witnesses describe crowds of tens of thousands gathered to witness the execution of those accused of distributing foreign media, a tactic used to brainwash the public. However, foreign music and movies are still widely consumed in spite of these horrifying dangers; they are frequently brought into North Korea on USB drives and watched covertly. This arbitrary system is still based on fear and corruption, violating fundamental human rights in order to preserve complete state control.
