North Korean military officers caught in crackdown on "impure" foreign videos

The North Korean government of Kim Jong-un has punished more than 10 military officers caught in possession of pirated foreign video files, such as South Korean TV shows, Japanese porn and Hollywood movies.  

Radio Free Asia reported on Monday that a large black market for foreign media exists despite it being illegal to consume. Foreign TV shows, music, and movies are smuggled in on small, easily concealed SD cards and USB flash drives.

The government passed the Elimination of Reactionary Thought and Culture Law in December 2020 that outlawed the watching, keeping or distribution media from capitalist countries, particularly South Korea and the United States.

It also created a task force, Surveillance Bureau Group 109, to seek out and arrest violators. Citizens caught since have been sentenced to hard labor, life in prison, or even death, reports RFA.

This recent inspection targeted senior officers who own computers or have access to them, as well as those who have mobile phones, according to an anonymous source.

Another source told RFA that the number of officers with impure levels at the high-level units in Pyonyang was a cause of embarrassment and concern.

“All units are nervous as they announce that the 109 Joint Command will begin random inspections... of all the units where someone was caught in the crackdown this time,” the second source said.

South Korea media is considered especially dangerous because of the shared language with North Koreans. An August 2019 article in The Washington Post drew comparisons to how Soviet teens listened to illicit recordings of Western artists like the Beatles and David Bowie.

A survey of 200 defectors found 90% had watched or listened to foreign media while in North Korea and 75% knew someone who was punished for it.