North Korean young people are engaging in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game with authorities as they continue secretly consuming South Korean media despite increasingly strict enforcement.
“Officials enforcing rules about anti-socialist and non-socialist behavior are still visiting homes and searching pedestrians in Hyesan,” a source in Ryanggang province told Daily NK recently. “On the street, enforcers typically check pedestrians’ mobile phones, USB sticks and other storage devices for illegal videos.”
There’s nothing particularly new about North Korea’s crackdown on foreign media. For years now, homes have been randomly raided and pedestrians stopped for searches of their belongings.
North Korea imposes harsh punishments on anyone caught consuming South Korean media—including films, dramas and music—because the regime views the spread of South Korean content among youth as a direct threat to its authority.
In connection with this concern, North Korea listed “the import, production, reproduction, storage, dissemination and consumption of impure publications and propaganda” as prohibited behaviors in Article 41 of the Youth Education Guarantee Act, passed in August 2021.
Creative evasion tactics
But young North Koreans have developed various methods to avoid enforcers while still satisfying their curiosity and appetite for foreign media.
“Home searches happen so frequently that even small children assume a knock on the door means another search is coming,” the source said. “But the stricter enforcement becomes, the more carefully young people hide their activities. They’ve even started mocking the people walking around enforcing these rules.”
North Korean youth compare their illicit activities to a cat-and-mouse game. “What they say is the cat can pounce all it wants, but it can’t catch every mouse. All that running around will just leave the cat frustrated and exhausted,” the source explained.
“Given the constant threat of being searched, nobody with any sense would openly carry contraband, as if challenging the authorities to catch them,” the source said. “What people typically do is bring along a USB stick filled with North Korean movies and songs they can show to enforcers while hiding another SD card somewhere officials are unlikely to look.”
The source explained that young people now generally use SD cards, which are much smaller than USB sticks and therefore far easier to conceal.
“When someone isn’t carrying anything at all, enforcers will search them very thoroughly, but if they’re carrying an obvious storage device, enforcers will usually just check their pockets,” the source said. “So young people make sure to bring along a USB stick without any problematic material while keeping forbidden files on a well-hidden SD card they share with trusted friends.”
Networks of trust and mutual protection
Young people who share media content promise not to inform on each other if caught. As authorities intensify their efforts, youth are taking even greater precautions.
“The authorities search our homes and stop us on the street, but we’re still keeping up with the latest movies and songs,” a person in their twenties told the source. “No matter how bad the crackdown gets, they’ll never be able to suppress our curiosity.”
The young person added, “Our friends know that ‘cats’ refers to enforcers. Sometimes officials show up in the most unexpected places. But we make sure to warn each other about cats prowling around certain areas so nobody gets caught.”
“Even the most energetic cat can’t catch all the mice,” the source concluded. “Young people are finding increasingly clever ways of hiding their media consumption as enforcement intensifies.”
