{"id":9746,"date":"2026-05-09T02:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T02:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/9746\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T02:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T02:56:15","slug":"pyongyang-man-sentenced-to-over-12-years-for-watching-south-korean-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/9746\/","title":{"rendered":"Pyongyang man sentenced to over 12 years for watching South Korean content"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a>FILE PHOTO: A clip from a North Korean video showing a public struggle session obtained by Daily NK in March 2023. (Daily NK)<\/p>\n

A Pyongyang<\/a> man was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison at a public trial held in mid-March in the city\u2019s Songyo district after investigators found he had spent years watching banned South Korean<\/a> videos<\/a> and music<\/a> in violation of North Korea\u2019s laws against \u201creactionary ideology and culture<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years, a man in the Songyo district and his family<\/a> members had been watching videos containing \u2018reactionary ideology\u2019 that undermines our socialist<\/a> system,\u201d a source in the North Korean capital<\/a> told Daily NK recently.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The man had been sheltered by a relative holding a senior position in the Ministry of Social Security until neighborhood watch unit members reported his illegal activities early this year. He was arrested following a subsequent investigation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Investigators found flash drives and other portable memory devices<\/a> containing videos of defectors<\/a>, South Korean movies and television programs, and songs by South Korean singers. All the files had innocuous names but contained prohibited content when opened. The attempt to disguise the files was treated as an aggravating factor in the case.<\/p>\n

Police<\/a> in Songyo district classified the incident as serious and conducted the investigation for nearly two months before the public trial was held in mid-March. The relative who held a senior position in the Ministry of Social Security attempted to make the case go away, but by then the investigation had progressed too far and the trial proceeded despite those efforts.<\/p>\n

Senior official\u2019s intervention fails as trial proceeds<\/p>\n

The trial was held in the conference room at the Songyo district courthouse with officials<\/a> from local government<\/a> offices in attendance. Speaking in somber tones, the judge itemized each of the man\u2019s crimes, including his rejection of the socialist system and his importation and propagation of \u201creactionary ideology and culture\u201d from abroad.<\/p>\n

The judge sentenced the man to 12 years and four months in prison for \u201cdeliberate, repeated and aggravated criminal<\/a> acts\u201d under the Criminal Procedure Act and the Reactionary Ideology and Culture Exclusion Act. The man\u2019s family members were also forcibly relocated from Pyongyang to Changjin county in South Hamgyong province.<\/p>\n

The judge stated that the harsh sentence was intended as a warning to others, a remark that reportedly produced an awkward silence in the courtroom.<\/p>\n

The case has since triggered a wider security crackdown<\/a>. \u201cAfter this case and a series of crimes involving \u2018reactionary ideology and culture\u2019 that have been reported since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Social Security has instructed police at all levels to ratchet up their surveillance<\/a>,\u201d the source said. \u201cPolice officers have responded by sternly warning the public and urging them to report<\/a> others or turn themselves in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read in Korean<\/a><\/p>\n

Reporting from inside North Korea<\/p>\n

\n Daily NK operates networks of sources inside North Korea who document events in real-time and transmit information<\/a> through secure channels. Unlike reporting based on state media<\/a>, satellite<\/a> imagery, or defector<\/a> accounts from years past, our journalism comes directly from people currently living under the regime. We verify reports through multiple independent sources and cross-reference details before publication.\n <\/p>\n

\n Our sources remain anonymous because contact with foreign media is treated as a capital offense in North Korea \u2014 discovery means imprisonment or execution. This network-based approach allows Daily NK to report on developments other outlets cannot access: market<\/a> trends, policy implementation, public sentiment, and daily realities that never appear in official narratives.\n <\/p>\n

\n Maintaining these secure communication channels and protecting source identities requires specialized protocols and constant vigilance. Daily NK serves as a bridge<\/a> between North Koreans and the outside world, documenting what\u2019s happening inside one of the world\u2019s most closed societies.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FILE PHOTO: A clip from a North Korean video showing a public struggle session obtained by Daily NK…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2339,6066,7032,129],"class_list":{"0":"post-9746","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pyongyang","8":"tag-dprk","9":"tag-human-rights","10":"tag-ministry-of-social-security","11":"tag-pyongyang"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}