North Korea hardens ban on foreign media, further isolating its citizens

A South Korean research organization released footage of the public sentencing of two teenagers over foreign content, which was a rare window into the country's hardening ban on the isolated nation.

The teenagers were under trial for consuming and distributing K-dramas. Something illegal under the tight grip of Kim Jong Un's regime.

Never miss a story! Click here to follow The Daily Digest.

According to The Conversation, the regime hardened its ongoing ban on foreign media in 2020 with the "Law on the Elimination of Reactionary Thought and Culture."

As The Conversation explained, the law enacted new punishments for those who consume or distribute foreign media in addition to those described in the nation's criminal code.

The platform claims that the North Korean regime capitalized on its COVID-19 border closure to double down on its ban on foreign media.

A 2023 BBC report with rare testimony from citizens inside North Korea confirms that, since the pandemic, the flow of defectors, information, and goods through the country's border has been scarce.

The citizens told the BBC that the isolation had led to hunger, the country imported most of its food, and fear as the regime tightened the control and surveillance. People stopped trusting each other.

That was the context of the public hearing for the teenagers. The audience was wearing masks, which shows it might have happened during the pandemic. Both 16-year-olds were sentenced to 12 years of forced labor, CNN reported.

The ban applies to all foreign media. However, The Conversation reported that the regime has been particularly hostile towards American and South Korean content.

South Korean content, particularly K-dramas and K-pop, has become popular. Kim has publicly condemned the music genre as a “vicious cancer” permeating North Korean society.

The consumption of K-dramas also seems to have inspired North Koreans to imitate the clothing and catchphrases of their favorite characters, as shown by a propaganda shaming video leaked to the Korea Institute for National Unification.

A defector told the BBC the differences are apparent: "If you get caught watching an American drama, you can get away with a bribe, but if you watch a Korean drama, you get shot," they said.

The witness confirms that all of these external elements are considered to challenge Kim Jong-un's ideology and the "ideal society" his family has been promoting for decades.

According to the BBC, Pyongyang has been aiming to contain those who distributed or sold this material since the approval of the 2020 law and even before.

Still, about 83% of North Koreans who defected to South Korea between 2016 and 2020 reported accessing illegal foreign content before leaving.

Never miss a story! Click here to follow The Daily Digest.

All of that also happens at a complicated moment, when, according to the BBC, tensions between the two Koreas are exceptionally high, with Kim testing weapons with a record-setting frequency.