Two teenagers have been killed in North Korea by firing squad for watching and selling movies including popular series Squid Game from neighbouring South Korea.
Soldiers of the North Korean ruling Communist regime executed the teens, aged 16 and 17, in October for selling and distributing the foreign films.
Both of the deceased were shot in front of terrified locals in the city of Hyesan on the border with China in October, though news of their deaths only emerged last week.
One of the onlookers who was forced to watch the executions described to Radio Free Asia what transpired on the day of executions.
“The authorities put the teenage students in front of the public, sentenced them to death, and immediately shot them,” said the unnamed source.
They were shot alongside a boy accused of murdering his stepmother, with onlooking locals told that the crimes were “equally evil”.
In North Korea, foreign media is prohibited from entering the country.
The population is taught by the regime to view South Korea as an American puppet state, and is sensitive to any of its media crossing the border.
But despite strict controls, contraband films are often smuggled into the country on USB drives or SD cards.
When these USB or SD cards cross the border they are then circulated secretly among North Koreans, at the risk of death.
According to research, such executions are rare in North Korea.
“Anyone caught distributing or selling South Korean movies can face the death penalty, even if they are minors”, the source told the radio station.
Compiled by Mashudu Mabila
Pictured Above: Scene from Squid Game
Image Source: @Mailonline News
