North Korean soldiers arrested after watching foreign videos
The narrator in the video says that no one is born with an inherently bad political class, but they can become so if they watch content from the outside world. Image | NK Insider
In North Korea, a person coming into contact with content deemed undesirable by the authorities, including books, images, movies, music, and other media, is considered guilty of anti-state conspiracy.
Watching South Korean or foreign films or possessing movie and drama files can result in punishment, including forced labor. In some cases, the penalty is death.
This approach to unapproved media is a critical measure for maintaining the state. Hence the defining of such activities as anti-socialist, non-socialist, and anti-state.
Despite the restrictions, however, people are drawn to works that, regardless of their purpose, reveal human experience. This is especially true for soldiers. Most young men who graduate from school at age 17 endure over a decade of cold, hunger, and the monotony of military service, and in this time, they often turn to foreign content for some form of distraction. Watching South Korean movies, for instance, allows them to temporarily endure hunger and dream of a better future.
To prevent this, the authorities are making every effort to block access.
According to recently acquired internal documents, the authorities have been issuing warnings to soldiers, urging them not to watch South Korean movies, songs, and other foreign media deemed subversive.
The soldiers featured in a recent video are believed to have received severe punishment, with some speculating that they may have been executed or sentenced to forced labor, as the fact that they appeared in the regime’s propaganda videos suggests they are no longer alive.
In the video, a female army surgeon deeply regrets and repents for having watched subversive media. She confesses her crime, acknowledging that it was not just a personal mistake but a reflection of a broader trend of reactionary behavior among many soldiers.
The surgeon, whose arrest warrant was recorded, sobbed as she said, “I committed a crime out of unnecessary curiosity by listening to the enemy’s subversive propaganda and distributing it.”
“I have committed an unforgivable sin against my parents who raised me,” she said.
In response, the officer in charge said, “The new generation growing up now, in other words, those from a class-based background, are not inherently bad. When you watch one or two enemy films, it’s easy to convince yourself that it won’t change your ideology. It starts out with innocent curiosity or the desire for a fleeting bit of fun, but when it becomes repetitive and over time, without realizing it, you start to change. This is a law of nature.”
The reason for such extreme repression and the blocking of any right to information, freedom of expression, or freedom of movement is clear: it is all in the interest of preserving the regime. If people were allowed to exercise rights enjoyed in most countries and speak and move freely, the regime would crumble.
But, as the saying goes, no matter how hard you try to block the sun with the palm of your hand, it will not disappear. The basic freedoms that the North Korean people long for cannot be suppressed. These freedoms are part of the inevitable flow of history and will one day surface.
Era is a North Korean defector and an experienced journalist who offers a unique perspective on one of the world's most secretive nations. Having escaped the oppressive regime, Era has leveraged her keen understanding of North Korean society to become a beacon of truth. Through her extensive network of in-country reporters, she maintains real-time communication with sources inside North Korea, providing unparalleled insights into the ground realities of the closed society.
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