Why 2 Teenagers Were Sentenced To 12 Years Imprisonment For Watching K-drama

A viral video shows North Korea security operatives publicly sentencing two teenage boys to 12 years of hard labour for watching South Korean movies popularly known as K-dramas.

The footage, which appears to have been filmed in 2022, shows two 16-year-old boys handcuffed in front of hundreds of students at an outdoor stadium.

It also shows uniformed police officers reprimanding the boys for not “deeply reflecting on their mistakes”.

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The sole reason for their arrest and imprisonment is because, South Korean entertainment, including TV shows, is banned in the North.

But some people in the country are prepared to risk severe punishment to access K-dramas, which have a huge global audience.

North Korea forbids photos, videos and other evidence of life in the country from being leaked to the outside world, signifying how such footage is very rare.

This video was provided to the BBC by the South and North Development (Sand), a research institute that works with defectors from the North.

Watch the video HERE.