# North korea executes students for watching Squid games **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** netflix\ **Created:** [February 8, 2026, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491 "2026-02-08T05:29:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491/1 "2026-02-08T05:29:07Z")
I don’t know of this belongs here, feel free to move. Per the New York Post, and other sites: North Korea is executing schoolchildren for watching South Korean TV shows and listening to [K-Pop](https://nypost.com/2024/06/28/world-news/north-korea-publicly-executed-man-for-listening-to-k-pop/), including [Netflix’s hit series “Squid Game,”](https://nypost.com/2025/12/31/world-news/boy-12-dies-after-recreating-scene-from-squid-games-for-prank/) according to [Amnesty International.](https://www.amnesty.org.uk/latest/north-korea-teenagers-executed-for-watching-squid-game-as-regime-wages-war-on-k-pop/) Escapees told the human rights group that teenagers and even middle school students [have been publicly executed](https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/act50/8976/2025/en/), sent to labor camps or subjected to brutal public humiliations for consuming foreign media banned by the regime. Whether this is only because Squid and other games are coming from South Korea, or they’re paranoid about anything apart their propaganda. thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491/2 "2026-02-08T05:30:24Z")
They could instead have just run the Squid Game for real. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491/3 "2026-02-08T15:16:07Z")
> [@fedman1](#): > > or they’re paranoid about anything apart their propaganda This. Mostly they have to scare everybody into never even trying to peer over / through the Great Firewall into western media of any sort. Because as a practical matter, they cannot make their firewalls and radio jamming and device controls and … completely impervious to outside content. So the last line of defense is to scare people into not being willing to run the risk of even trying. SK media is especially suspect, but mostly because the language is accessible to NK citizens. Unlike, say, Western media. Interestingly, NK film has recently made significant strides in being less bombastic and more entertaining. That’s the carrot side of the same equation. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491/4 "2026-02-08T17:52:37Z")
North Korea is supposedly the world’s only totalitarian state, and they are terrified of foreign media getting in because it shows how much wealth, health care and freedom the rest of the world has. It undermines the entire propaganda state, which is based on the message that ‘north Korea is miserable, but the rest of the world is much much worse’. I remember reading books from defectors and one theme that came up repeatedly was when people would escape from North Korea into China, they were surprised at how wealthy and free China was. These were defectors in the 80s and 90s escaping into poor, rural parts of China. Despite the fact that China is also a dictatorship and the rural areas were dirt poor back then, it was still a massive upgrade in quality of life. Sometimes North Korean news will show riots in South Korea, showing South Koreans marching in the streets protesting. But supposedly (at least according to defectors) all anyone watching noticed or cared about was how all the South Koreans looked healthy and well fed, and how there were endless cars and skyscrapers in the background when people protested in South Korean cities. Also the fact that South Koreans have the freedom to protest without their families being tortured or killed. The propaganda designed to make them hate South Korea just proved how much higher the quality of life there is. My understanding is North Korea tries hard to suppress external media, but especially media from South Korea because south Korean media shows how much richer, healthier, well fed and freer their neighbors to the south are. The point is, its not just squid games. North Korea is very cruel towards anyone consuming foreign media, but they are extra cruel towards people watching South Korean media, as that undermines the entire narrative of the regime. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491/5 "2026-02-08T17:55:39Z")
How were they determined to have been watching? Monitoring of their internet? Reports from family members or neighbors? Bragging? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491/6 "2026-02-08T17:57:07Z")
Maybe they weren’t. Maybe they just picked some kids at random and told everyone they were watching forbidden media. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491/7 "2026-02-08T18:07:18Z")
The weird thing is that until the late 1960s, North Korea was actually more advanced than South Korea. In the decade or so after the Korean War ended, South Korea was actually a very poor nation while North Korea was actually more advanced. Since 1970 or so, South Korea has advanced tremendously while North Korea has declined. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491/8 "2026-02-08T20:31:20Z")
Yep. Same as ICE. When the totalitarian’s goal is to cowe & deter the general populace, the niggling details of the guilt or innocence of who you select to persecute or execute simply don’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491/9 "2026-02-08T20:54:37Z")
I’ve seen a few documentaries and news programs on illegal content in North Korea. From what I understand: 1. Consuming western content is extremely common, especially among youth 2. There’s an active smuggling network that brings in flash drives containing said comment ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491/10 "2026-02-08T20:57:01Z")
I’d been wanting to start a thread asking what it was like to live in North Korea, as far as we know. I’m not sure I want to know. Executing a child is too terrible to comprehend. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491/11 "2026-02-08T21:21:05Z")
I do not think North Korea is the _only_ totalitarian state right now. Contemporary Russia, for instance— there are likely more users on this forum from there available to describe their experience… ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan\_myers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@aruvqan\_myers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan_myers)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491/12 "2026-02-08T21:38:04Z")
there is a youtube channel where they interview defectors, and show them videos of various nonNK aspects of the world [funny watching the military watching US special forces training, or carrier groups or what not =)] ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491/13 "2026-02-08T23:02:37Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > I do not think North Korea is the _only_ totalitarian state right now. Pretty sure Turkmenistan qualifies. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2026, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491/14 "2026-02-08T23:30:06Z")
At some point before the fall of the Soviet Union, I saw an interview with an elderly woman who had managed to emigrate in the late 1920s or early 1930s, and ended up somewhere in the Midwest, where she and her relatives lived together on a homestead. They were hearing talk about a Great Depression, and they were saying, “Depression? What Depression?” ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2026, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491/15 "2026-02-09T01:55:46Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > I do not think North Korea is the _only_ totalitarian state right now. Contemporary Russia, for instance— there are likely more users on this forum from there available to describe their experience… Theres a difference between totalitarian states and regular dictatorships. Russia is a dictatorship and so is China, but for the most part as long as you don’t get involved in politics the government will leave you alone. North Korea wants to control every part of your life and mind, which is a different level of dictatorship. Like I said, when people escaped from North Korea into China, they were amazed at how much freedom people living in a Chinese dictatorship had. The same thing happened in the USSR. North Korea would lease slave labor to the USSR. When people saw how much higher the standard of living was in the USSR, they would commit crimes so they could get sent to a soviet prison. Life in a soviet prison was better than life in North Korea. > [@susan](#): > > How were they determined to have been watching? Monitoring of their internet? Reports from family members or neighbors? Bragging? One way they do it is they cut power to an apartment complex. Then they go into everyone’s rooms and see if there are tapes in the VCRs, or DVDs in the DVD players, etc. since you can’t eject them when the power is cut. North Koreans have found some ways around this though. They use Notels so they can put a DVD in the player while watching South Korean movie off of an SD card or USB drive. Then if the power gets cut and the inspectors come in and notice the notel engine is still warm, they just say they were watching a North Korean DVD. Also my understanding is the official will rummage your apartment looking for foreign media. > [@Telemark](#): > > Pretty sure Turkmenistan qualifies. I don’t know a lot about Turkmenistan, but this is my understanding. North Korea has its own national internet that is disconnected from the global internet. Turkmenistan has a global internet that is heavily surveilled. You can still access the global internet, its just dangerous (same as in Iran, China, Russia, etc) In North Korea if you watch foreign media you (and your family) get sent to a concentration camp or executed. In Turkmenistan you get a warning. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2026, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491/16 "2026-02-09T02:19:09Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > They use Notels For those of us who have no idea what this is: > **[Notel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notel)** > > Notel (Korean: 노텔), also called NoteTel, is a brand of portable media player made in China which is popular in North Korea. The word is a portmanteau of "notebook" and "television". It is estimated that up to half of all urban North Korean households have a notel. > The device has USB and SD ports, can play DVDs and EVDs, and contains radio and television tuners. It can also be powered and recharged from a car battery. > Notels have been popular in North Korea since around 2005, significantly fac... The point being that you can load but not play approved DVD media while loading and playing unapproved programming on an SD card or USB drive which can be yanked and hidden at any time. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2026, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491/17 "2026-02-09T02:21:23Z")
Reminds me of the (somewhat) recent Internet shenanigans in Afghanistan, another contender for the totalitarian label, where they tried to turn it off. I am not sure that Russia can be dismissed as just another authoritarian dictatorship. If they only care about politics, why are they coming down on groups like the LGBTQ community? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2026, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491/18 "2026-02-09T02:28:10Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > I am not sure that Russia can be dismissed as just another authoritarian dictatorship. If they only care about politics, why are they coming down on groups like the LGBTQ community? My understanding is that North Korea has the most invasive and oppressive government on earth. Other nations have things like morality police (Saudi Arabia, Iran, etc) but North Korea is generally considered the worst regarding the government trying to micromanage the population. I’m open to the idea that I’m wrong, but I get the impression that North Korea is in a league of its own regarding how much the state infiltrates itself into people’s lives and minds. most other dictatorships mostly leave you alone as long as you don’t challenge the government. Also my understanding is in Russia you can be gay, as long as you only do it at home. Public advocacy is illegal. In a nation like North Korea they want to control your home life and your thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2026, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491/19 "2026-02-09T02:41:00Z")
North Korea does this 3 generations thing. Punishing them all, guilt by association. To really get the message across. The death of the teens is the least of their worries now. The teens were probably too young to have any children yet but you can be sure that their parents have been sent to a labor camp and their lives are ruined. Maybe even grandparents. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2026, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491/20 "2026-02-09T02:47:31Z")
Called yeonjwaje. [Three Generations of Punishment | Smithsonian Photo Contest | Smithsonian Magazine](https://photocontest.smithsonianmag.com/photocontest/detail/three-generations-of-punishment/) [Prisons-of-North-Korea-English.pdf](https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Prisons-of-North-Korea-English.pdf) However, some Kaechon prisoners are victims of the regime’s “three generations of punishment,” in which three generations of a prisoner’s family are also sent to the camp and may die there without having committed a crime themselves. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-executes-students-for-watching-squid-games/1027491.md?page=2)