Two 16-year-old minors have been sentenced by the government of North Korea to 12 years of hard labor for watching South Korean soap operas: “They are only 16 years old, but they have already ruined their future,” says the narrator of the video distributed by the regime.

Your crime is having seen and distributed ‘K-dramas’, soap operas typical of South Korea that increasingly popular around the world; something that North Korea prohibits and considers that both teenagers also deserve public trial: it wants everyone to know their names and even give their address.

In addition, they also issue a warning to women: be careful not to wear shorts, tight pants or dye your hair. That is, adopt any form of Western style.” It is unusual to see images of what is happening in this country, much less the type of propaganda that the regime uses with its own citizens.

In 2020, punishments were toughened for consume and distribute South Korean entertainmenteven going so far as to shoot a 22-year-old young man for listening to music from the neighboring country.