Rare footage shows North Korean teens punished for watching South Korean dramas, research group claims

Seoul, South Korea CNN —

A South Korean research group has released rare footage that it claims shows North Korean teenagers sentenced to hard labor for watching and distributing K-dramas – which are banned in the hermit nation.

The narrated footage released last Friday shows the two teens standing on a stage in an amphitheater filled with hundreds of people wearing white shirts, who appear to be students.

The teens, flanked by two adults in military-style uniforms, stand facing six more adults, all seated at three tables to the rear of the stage.

“Not long ago, a public trial was held,” the narrator says, naming the two teens and saying they were caught “watching and distributing puppet regime’s recordings.”

North Korea often refers to South Korea as a “puppet regime.”

The narrator says the pair watched and distributed dozens of South Korean movies and TV shows, and that each was sentenced to 12 years of labor.

“They were only 16 years old, just at the beginning of their lives. However, they were seduced by foreign culture, ultimately ruining their future paths,” the narrator says.

The names of the teens’ homeroom teachers also appear on the screen.

The video shows the teenagers facing a panel on a stage in an ampitheater.

The Seoul-based South and North Development Institute (SAND Institute), which works with North Korean defectors, obtained the recording and distributed it to media outlets. The video, which shows the audience in the amphitheater all wearing masks, is believed to have been filmed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

For decades, North Korea has been almost completely closed off from the rest of the world, with tight control over what information gets in or out. Foreign materials including movies and