A pair of teenagers in Sinuiju were recently arrested and detained for watching South Korean films, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a reporting partner in North Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Apr. 20 that “in late March, two teenagers in the city of Sinuiju, known as the Kim brothers, were exposed by an anti-socialist and non-socialist task force for watching South Korean films and subsequently arrested.” The reporting partner also mentioned that “the brothers are attending middle and high school.”
According to the reporting partner, their parents had advised them against watching South Korean films due to the increasingly severe punishments for doing so. Ignoring the warning, they proceeded to lock the house doors and watch these films in their parents’ absence, but were eventually discovered by a team of enforcers.
Attempts to quickly conceal the SD card containing these films failed, as the brothers were caught possessing a notetel (short for “notebook television,” referring to Chinese-produced portable media players).
Enforcers discovered residual heat in the notetel, and proceeded to press the brothers for answers. Eventually, a SD card carrying these films was found after a body search.
The enforcers proceeded to search their house, but did not find any other items on the brothers apart from the SD card.
The brothers were subsequently taken away to a police detention center, where they were interrogated separately starting the following day.
The older brother, when questioned about the source of the SD card, stated to the authorities that he “had picked it up on the streets” and “was watching the films alone while his younger brother slept beside him.” These words were meant to save his younger brother, but none of them would be freed after the younger Kim mentioned the film titles during his interrogation, the reporting partner said.
Meanwhile, the parents are currently going around raising money to save them, going so far as to sell their house to obtain funds for bribing the authorities. However, the parents continue to agonize as inquiries about buyers for the house have produced no results.
“These days, it’s hard to bribe enforcers even if you do it immediately during the arrest. [The parents’] efforts are likely futile considering that more than 20 days have already passed since the arrest,” the reporting partner said. “The brothers will likely face harsh punishment given that North Korea strictly forbids the viewing of South Korean films.”
On the other hand, the reporting partner also noted that “currently, North Korean teenagers are raving over South Korean films and dramas, and the intensification of crackdowns will only lead to the enforcers getting richer given that South Korean media continues to be popular.”
Translated by Marc Yeo Yi Fei. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of reporting partners who live inside North Korea and China. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
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