Witness to North Korea executions: He was only 22 and shot for watching and distributing 70 songs and three South Korean TV series'

"The measure is part of a trio of regulations that Kim Ilhyuk, a North Korean defector, calls the three evil laws. They were implemented during the Covid pandemic lockdown and intended to impose even stricter control on the population of the country, which Kim Jong Un, North Korea's supreme leader, rules with an iron fist. The focus, to a large extent, was on young people and their interaction with foreign cultures."

"The executions, Kim says, are public and carried out by firing squad. He has witnessed several. There are usually two every three months. Attendance is mandatory. And, among those executed, he remembers seeing someone he knew well. He was like a younger brother to me. He was only 22, but he was executed by firing squad on the charge of watching and distributing 70 songs and three South Korean television series."

North Korea's Reactionary Ideology and Culture Rejection Act, passed in 2020, claims to strengthen ideology, revolution, and social class by blocking inflow and distribution of reactionary and anti-socialist culture. Article 7 prescribes strict punishments, including the death penalty, for citizens who bring in, view, or distribute such materials, with severity applied regardless of motive or social class. The law formed part of three regulations implemented during the Covid lockdown to tighten control, with special focus on young people and foreign cultural exposure. Public executions by firing squad occur regularly with mandatory attendance. A defector witnessed a 22-year-old executed for consuming South Korean media and later escaped to South Korea in 2023 with family; the family now lives in Seoul.

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