North Korea’s executions for watching K-dramas, foreign content surge during Covid-19: report

When people were told to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic, watching K-dramas became a solace for fans of South Korea’s best-known export around the world. But for North Koreans, it spelled death.A report released by North Korea-focused human rights organisation Transition Justice Working Group (TJWG) on Tuesday showed that the number of people executed for consuming South Korean cultural content – such as K-dramas, films and K-pop – and religious practices surged by 250 per cent after borders closed due to the pandemic, according to The Korea Times.“As the regime pursues a fourth hereditary succession of power, there is a high risk of increased executions to strengthen cultural and ideological control and maintain political dominance,” the report said.