North Korea leader Kim Jong Un. AFP.
Pyongyang: Watching porn in North Korea could cost you your life as leader, Kim Jong Un has ordered his new secret squad to shoot anyone viewing adult video and scrap foreign television, haircuts and culture of birthday parties.
The decision has been taken to clamp down on ‘foreign influences’.
Squads operate as ‘hidden tool’
According to a report, the squads are known as ‘gruppa’ or ‘non-socialist groups’. They have been tasked by Pyongyang to keep in check that people do not violate the official ideology of Communist Party.
The report says that the squads operate as a “hidden tool” which is being used by the North Korea government to achieve their “ultimate objectives of ubiquitous surveillance and the ability to thoroughly oversee each and every resident”.
North Korea executes those watching pornography
A report by Seoul-based Database Centre for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB) quoted a testimony saying, “… I’ve heard about people being shot for distributing impure cultural contents. There was one person who was executed for watching pornography and prostituting at his place after Kim Jong Un took office.”
The punishment for watching pornography is execution by a firing squad, the report said, adding that Kim has been tightening his noose firmly with gruppa.
“If you consume sexual media content in North Korea, you are either punished with a lifetime term of ‘reform through labour’ or even executed by firing squad. Watching typical South Korean or American material will lead to a sentence of fewer than ten years of ‘reform through labour,” the report quoted another defector’s testimony.
Anything ‘Western’ banned in North Korea
Foreign media has been strictly prohibited in North Korea. People in the country have been asked to unquestionably support Kim and his ruling regime and dissent is severely punished.
Reportedly, Kim considers South Korea as an “American puppet state”. He is also sensitive anything Western, including its media, fearing the influence it may have.
As per reports, earlier this month, four students were expelled from university and forced to work in a coal mine because they sounded as if they had been watching foreign TV shows, by using accents or phrases from the South.
Choices being monitored
Administration in North Korea keeps a strict watch on how its people dress, the type of music they listen to, the videos they watch, whether they have dyed their hair.
“They keep saying not to have gatherings and drink alcohol because when people are drunk, they will end up singing one or two South Korean songs for sure,” a testimony was quoted as saying in the report.
As per the report, smuggling and distribution of South Korean media have been prevalent in the country. Outlawed songs, movies and TV shows like ‘Squid Game’ or ‘Crash Landing on You’ are sometimes smuggled into North Korea on USB flash drives.
To restrict people from watching, ‘non-socialist groups’ have been using several methods including cutting off power of the homes of families suspected of viewing banned media.
As for punishment, they are demoted at work, fired from job, or sent to a re-education or labour camp.
People in North Korea are being prosecuted for defection, drug dealing, smuggling and begging. They are also being punished for being absent from work, traffic offences, adultery, dying one’s hair, religious practices and taking part in ‘decadent culture’, including parties.
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