North Korea Really Did Execute Someone for Listening to K-Pop

In a move that sounds straight out of Seth Rogen and James Franco’s 2014 film The Interview, defectors have alleged that North Korea really did execute someone for listening to and distributing K-pop.

According to The Guardian, the 2024 Report on North Korean Human Rights published by South Korea’s unification ministry detailed one defector’s testimony in which they relayed the story of a young man from South Hwanghae province who was publicly executed in 2022 for “listening to 70 South Korean songs, watching three films and distributing the media.” His media consumption saw him run afoul of a 2020 law that banned “reactionary ideology and culture.”

Other reactionary behavior that was punished included traditions like brides wearing white, grooms carrying their brides, wearing sunglasses or drinking alcohol from a wine glass, all of which are seen as South Korean customs.

As The Guardian explains, the K-pop ban is part of an attempt to shield North Koreans from the negative influence of Western culture. Despite crackdowns, South Korean culture is incredibly persistent in North Korea; one young woman who defected told reporters, “The speed of South Korean culture influencing North Korea is seriously fast. Young people follow and copy South Korean culture, and they really love anything South Korean.”

South Koreans are making a concerted effort to get K-pop and K-dramas into the hands of North Koreans. Last month, activists sent balloons carrying anti-North Korean propaganda alongside USB drives with K-pop and Korean TV shows loaded onto them across the border.

The problem is, watching and listening to them has become a matter of life and death.