FIRING SQUAD Executes Teens for Watching TV

North Korea executed high school students by public firing squad for the “crime” of watching banned South Korean dramas, revealing the brutal extremes of totalitarian government control that should alarm every American who values freedom.

Story Snapshot

Three teens in Hyesan, Ryanggang Province were executed at a public airfield for watching and sharing South Korean shows like Squid Game
Amnesty International documented systematic executions through interviews with 25 escapees, exposing class-based enforcement where wealthy families bribe officials while poor families face death
Kim Jong-un’s 2020 anti-reactionary thought law mandates execution for possessing foreign media, forcing schoolchildren to witness public killings as “ideological education”
The regime’s iron-fisted crackdown demonstrates how authoritarian governments eliminate basic freedoms Americans take for granted, including what entertainment citizens can watch in their own homes

Teenagers Executed for Watching Foreign Entertainment

North Korean authorities executed three high school students in late 2025 at a public airfield in Hyesan, Ryanggang Province, after catching them watching and distributing South Korean dramas and American shows to friends. The teens, who met at their high school near the China border in early October 2025, were apprehended within weeks of sharing the forbidden content. Authorities forced tens of thousands of residents, including students, to witness the firing squad executions as a warning against consuming foreign media that the regime views as capitalist poison threatening loyalty to Kim Jong-un’s dictatorship.

Systematic Brutality Exposed Through Defector Testimonies

Amnesty International released findings in February 2026 based on interviews with 25 escapees who fled North Korea between 2017 and 2019, confirming executions for watching shows like Squid Game and Crash Landing on You, as well as listening to K-pop groups like BTS. Defector Kim Eunju, age 40, testified that authorities use executions as “ideological education,” forcing middle school children to watch people die for entertainment choices. The testimonies revealed a disturbing pattern where wealthy families with connections can bribe officials to avoid harsh penalties, while poor families face execution or labor camps for identical offenses, exposing the regime’s corruption alongside its cruelty.

Decades-Long War Against Cultural Freedom

Kim Jong-un’s regime has escalated enforcement against foreign media since implementing the 2020 anti-reactionary thought law, which mandates death penalties for possessing or distributing South Korean content. The dictatorship considers such entertainment a form of cultural infiltration that undermines its juche ideology and absolute control over citizens’ thoughts. USB drives smuggling South Korean shows across the China border have proliferated since the 2010s, particularly after Squid Game became a global phenomenon in 2021. Previous incidents include a 2017-2018 execution in Sinuiju for distributing media and 2021 investigations of teens in South Pyongan Province for BTS content, establishing a pattern of using terror to maintain ideological purity.

Schools Transformed Into Indoctrination Centers

The regime forces schoolchildren to attend public executions and subjects students caught with foreign media to public humiliation sessions, turning educational institutions into tools of psychological warfare. Defector Kim Joonsik, age 28, explained that students with money or family connections can avoid punishment entirely, while those from poor families are sent to labor camps or executed. Schools in border provinces like Ryanggang conduct mandatory sessions where officials warn students that watching forbidden content will result in death. This totalitarian approach to controlling information reveals the fundamental incompatibility between freedom and authoritarian government control that conservatives recognize as antithetical to human dignity and natural rights.

Lessons for Defenders of American Liberty

North Korea’s execution of teenagers for entertainment choices illustrates the ultimate destination of unchecked government power and thought control that Americans must vigilantly oppose. While the regime justifies brutality as preserving ideological purity, the reality exposes corrupt officials accepting bribes while poor families suffer, demonstrating how authoritarianism inevitably produces injustice rather than order. The systematic terror campaign forcing children to witness executions represents government overreach taken to its logical extreme, erasing individual autonomy entirely. Americans who value constitutional protections including free speech, due process, and limited government should recognize these atrocities as warnings about what happens when citizens surrender fundamental liberties to centralized authority promising security or equality through force.