North Korea is reportedly conducting lectures in certain regions that designate South Korea, the United States and Japan as hostile nations and warn that listening to or watching broadcasts from those nations will be harshly punished. The lectures appear aimed at teaching residents about the law against “reactionary thought” enacted last December and at bolstering internal unity.
A source in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Monday that in a recent lecture, the propaganda secretary of the South Pyongan Province branch of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea designated broadcasts from “South Choson” (South Korea) as “hostile broadcasts” and called for tougher controls and punishments. The source told Daily NK that “entering the new year, the party’s agitprop department has designated South Choson as a hostile nation and has been strengthening control [over society].”
The source explained that not all capitalist nations with ideologies and systems that differ from North Korea’s are designated “hostile nations”; only the United States, Japan and South Korea are.
“The propaganda secretary stressed in the lecture that whether or not something is a hostile broadcast depends on what country it is from,” he said. “This means what’s important is whether or not the broadcast was produced in a hostile country, regardless of its content.”
In other words, if a broadcast is from a hostile country, listening to it will be treated as listening to a hostile broadcast even if the broadcast lacks hostile content. Meanwhile, broadcasts from other countries may not necessarily be regarded as hostile broadcasts.
The source said, however, that this did not mean that it is alright to listen to broadcasts from other capitalist nations.
His explanation suggests that as the authorities toughen punishments for consuming outside information, those who consume materials produced in hostile countries will be punished even more.
According to Article 195 of North Korea’s Criminal Code, listening to hostile broadcasts can be punished by two to five years of disciplinary labor.
However, the lecture apparently emphasized the law against “reactionary thought” enacted at the end of last year.
The presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly adopted the law last December, setting rules to “strictly block the entry and distribution of anti-sociaist ideology and culture and firmly protect [North Korea’s] ideology, spirit and culture.”
According to explanatory material for the law previously obtained by Daily NK, the law calls for sentences of five to 15 years of correctional labor against people caught watching, listening or possessing “films, recordings, publications, books, songs, drawings or photos from South Choson,” and life sentences of correctional labor or death for individuals who import and distribute such materials.
The explanatory materials also designate the United States and Japan as hostile nations, warning that people caught watching videos produced in those countries face punishment.
With North Korean authorities banning people from going outside or meeting as part of efforts to stop COVID-19, people stuck at home are reportedly passing the time by watching videos from the outside world.
Concerned that locals may grow ideologically lax, North Korean authorities are apparently trying to boost solidarity through public lectures. Some North Koreans are worried that the authorities may severely punish a select few to use them as examples of what people should not be doing.
Daily NK was unable to confirm whether the same lecture was conducted nationwide.
