North Korea has recently launched a ruthless campaign against North Koreans who illegally distribute foreign television programs. This even includes widely popular South Korean dramas, as detailed in a recent United Nations human rights report. The draft report based on the study interviews over 300 witnesses and victims who have since fled the country to escape. It illustrates that starting in 2014, punishments have skyrocketed, most notably with the addition of the death penalty for such offenses.
The report ranks North Korea as the world’s most repressive country. It amplifies the use of growing infringements on personal liberties and the dangers of an ever-expanding authoritarian surveillance apparatus. New technologies have helped make surveillance measures more insidious and invasive than ever before. James Heenan, the head of the UN’s human rights office for North Korea, unveiled those findings at a congressional briefing. This all happened in Geneva, Switzerland.
The report paints a grim picture of human rights abuses in North Korea. As it has throughout the pandemic, the country has accelerated executions for both common and political offenses. The report underscores that those targeted for distributing foreign media often belong to lower levels of society, who cannot afford to bribe their way out of severe penalties.
“They’re often children from the lower level of society, because they’re the ones who can’t bribe their way out of it, and these shock brigades are engaged in often very hazardous and dangerous work,” – James Heenan
The UN report uncovers how laws, policies and practices enacted since the 2015 World Summit have put citizens under heightened scrutiny. These measures go even further, reaching into nearly every aspect of their lives. This increasing scrutiny reflects a broader trend within North Korea to suppress any form of dissent or deviation from state-approved narratives.
Over the past couple years, regime has been cracking down on severe punishments for any access to or dissemination of foreign media. It has moved aggressively to remove such content from circulation. Together, these results show how instances of punishments for producing or smuggling foreign TV series have been integrated into the wider strategic approach. At its core, this strategy is about control—control of the people.
North Korea’s diplomatic missions in Geneva and London didn’t respond to calls for comment. The silence that followed the release of that report speaks volumes. As human rights observers are aware, the regime has turned its back on the UN Human Rights Council resolution that authorized this most recent investigation.