North Korean citizens have been horribly treated by their government and dictators for a long time. Now, new reports about the horrifying punishments for people who break the country’s – and dictator Kim Jong Un’s – strict rules have emerged.
North Korea has been a mystery for decades. The dictatorship in the East has become a little more welcoming towards tourists in later years, but report after report about how North Korean citizens are treated by their government has been more dire and dire.
The government tightly controls life in North Korea, and for people who break the rules, the consequences can be severe. Horrifyingly, in some cases, even deadly.
Under leader Kim Jong Un, authorities have tightened their grip on everyday life, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office. Restrictions affect everything from access to foreign entertainment to the information people can see.
One of the most concerning examples is the punishment for watching or sharing South Korean television shows, films, and music.
Horrifyingly, people in North Korea face increasingly harsh punishment for breaking the country’s strict rules, with even sharing foreign movies and TV shows potentially leading to the death penalty, a new UN report warns.
The findings paint a worrying picture of life under Kim Jong Un’s rule, where the government continues to tighten its control over the population. According to the report, forced labor has also increased, while people’s freedom to make their own choices has been further restricted.
Kim Jong Un’s disturbing punishments for people who break North Korea’s strict rules
The UN Human Rights Office said the authorities have strengthened their grip on everyday life over the past 10 years, leaving citizens with fewer freedoms and less privacy. The report described North Korea as a country where people face restrictions unlike those seen anywhere else in the world today.
“No other population is under such restrictions in today’s world,” the 2025 report stated.
Surveillance has also become more widespread, with new technology making it easier for the authorities to keep an eye on the population.
Per the BBC, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned that if the situation does not change, North Koreans will continue to face “suffering, brutal repression and fear” that have affected them for years.
The findings are based on more than 300 interviews with people who have escaped North Korea over the past decade. Their accounts suggest that the authorities are increasingly turning to the death penalty to punish those who break the rules.
Since 2015, at least six new laws allowing the death penalty have been introduced, according to the report.
Death penalty to share foreign films
Among the offenses that can now carry the death penalty is sharing foreign films and TV dramas. The findings highlight how Kim Jong Un’s government is working to keep outside information from reaching the North Korean population and maintain its tight control over what people can watch and learn about the world beyond their borders.
Kang Gyuri, who escaped from North Korea in 2023, told the BBC that three of her friends were executed after being caught watching or sharing South Korean content. She attended the trial of one friend, a 23-year-old who was sentenced to death.
“He was tried along with drug criminals. These crimes are treated the same now,” she said, adding that people have become increasingly more scared since 2020.
Gyuri added that people had become increasingly afraid since 2020.
According to Amnesty International, North Koreans caught watching South Korean TV shows can face a range of punishments, from public humiliation to years in labor camps or even execution.
Teenagers allegedly sentenced to 12 years of hard labor
However, sources say the punishment can depend on a person’s social class and family background. Those seen as loyal to the regime may receive lighter sentences, while people from less privileged families risk harsher penalties.
In 2024, BBC Korea reported that footage had circulated showing teenagers being handcuffed in public as punishment for watching and sharing South Korean dramas, also known as K-dramas.
The video, reportedly filmed in 2022, features a narrator repeating the North Korean regime’s propaganda.
“The rotten puppet regime’s culture has spread even to teenagers,” the narrator explained. “They are just 16 years old, but they ruined their own future.”
The two teenagers were allegedly sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for their actions.
According to the outlet, North Korea introduced stricter laws in 2020 that made watching or distributing South Korean entertainment a crime that could carry the death penalty. Before then, the rules were reportedly less severe, although people could still face serious consequences.
“If you watch a Korean drama, you get shot”
Kyong-hui, CEO of the charity South and North Development, told the outlet that North Korean authorities view the spread of South Korean dramas and music as a threat to the country’s ideology.
The entertainment can give people a different picture of life outside North Korea, challenging the regime’s claims about the rest of the world.
“Admiration for South Korean society can soon lead to a weakening of the system… This goes against the monolithic ideology that makes North Koreans revere the Kim family,” she said.
One North Korean defector described the difference between the punishments for watching foreign entertainment.
“If you get caught watching an American drama, you can get away with a bribe, but if you watch a Korean drama, you get shot,” the defector told BBC Korea. “For North Korean people, Korean dramas are a ‘drug’ that helps them forget their difficult reality.”
Another alleged defector explained how watching South Korean shows can challenge what people are taught from an early age. They said that from an early age, they had been taught how “much worse” South Korean lives are. However, they added that many questioned it when watching South Korean dramas.
It’s a completely different world,” the person said. “It seems like the North Korean authorities are wary of that.”
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