Friday, June 28, 2024 -North Korea publicly executed a 22-year-old citizen for listening to and sharing K-pop music and films as part of Pyongyang’s ruthless crackdown on outside information and culture.
The man from the Hermit Kingdom's South
Hwanghae province was publicly executed in 2022 for listening to 70
South Korean songs, watching three films, and distributing them, according to
testimonies published in the North Korean Human Rights report released by the
South's Unification Ministry on Thursday, June 27.
The report, a compilation of testimonies
from 649 North Korean defectors – highlights Pyongyang's brutal
crackdown on Western influence and information flow into the isolated
country.
The country’s ban on K-pop was implemented
under the former leader, Kim Jong-il to shield citizens from the “malign
influence” of Western culture and its allies.
It was further tightened under Jong-il’s
son, Kim Jong-un, who adopted a new law for the North in 2020, which prohibits
“reactionary ideology and culture”.
The North has rejected criticisms of the
government’s grave violation of human rights, calling it a part of a conspiracy
to overthrow the leadership.
According to the report, North Koreans are
routinely subjected to mobile phone inspections for contact name spellings,
expressions, and slang terms.
"The government does not tolerate
pluralism, bans independent media, civil society organisations and trade
unions, and systematically denies all basic liberties, including freedom of
expression, peaceful assembly, association, and freedom of religion and
belief," Human Rights Watch said about North Korea in their world report
in 2023.
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