North Korea: Watching Videos from South Korea Led to a 12-Year Sentence of Hard Labour

11-03-2024

Pauliina Majasaari

Human Rights Researcher 

Global Human Rights Defence

On January 19, video footage was found showing two 16-year-old North Korean boys being sentenced to 12 years of hard labour for watching videos from South Korea. The trial took place in an amphitheatre before a thousand peers to spread the message to the youth and ‘awaken’ them on what is acceptable and what is not.

North Korea has a long history of prohibiting freedom of expression, thought, and information. There is no media freedom, and the unauthorised use of phones, televisions, radios, computers, and social media leads to punishments such as forced labour and torture. Additionally, persons who try to get in contact with someone outside North Korea are arrested. Furthermore, in January 2023, the North Korean government set new legislation, the Pyongyang Cultural Language Protection Act, according to which the use of language that has a South Korean style or would otherwise appear to have a foreign influence is prohibited and can be punished by six or more years of forced labour or with the death penalty in certain cases.

Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Article 19 sets the right of everyone to hold their opinions without interference as well as the right to freedom of expression, which includes the right to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas, regardless of frontiers, amongst others through media of their choice. Moreover, Article 6(2) ICCPR protects persons from the death penalty within those countries which have not abolished the death penalty and therefore it can be imposed solely for the most serious crimes. The North Korean government is not respecting the aforementioned rights and freedoms. Firstly, prohibiting the use of phones to access content from South Korea is in contradiction with Article 19 of the ICCPR and freedom of expression to seek information through a media of their choice. Furthermore, the North Korean government is severely preventing access to all kinds of external information and communication, for example, by monitoring phone calls and restricting it to domestic calls only. Such practices are not in line with Article 19 of the ICCPR, as it grants the rights to seek and receive information, irrespective of borders, which North Korea is not respecting. Secondly, North Korea is not respecting the right set under Article 6(2) ICCPR, as it is imposing the death penalty in some cases for using the South Korean style of language or language that seems to have a foreign influence. The death penalty should be reserved only for the most serious crimes, and using the style of language cannot be considered one of the most serious crimes.

Therefore, as set out by multiple international actors, especially the UN Human Rights Council, North Korea is urged to work towards abolishing the death penalty from its criminal justice system as well as for the time being make sure that only serious crimes can fall under the imposition of a death penalty. Additionally, North Korea is advised by the international community to stop restricting independent media and allow its people access to the internet, social media, foreign media, and broadcasts. Such amendments to North Korea’s practices would bring them in line with the rights set within the ICCPR and the obligations set in it for being a state party to the Covenant. 

Sources and further readings:

1. ‘North Korean teens get 12 years’ hard labour for watching South Korean videos’ (The Guardian, January 19th 2024) <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/19/north-korean-teens-12-years-hard-labour-for-watching-south-korean-videos> accessed March 11th 2024.
2. ‘North Korea: Events of 2023’ (Human Rights Watch) <https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2024/country-chapters/north-korea> accessed March 11th 2024.
3. Human Rights Council, ‘Report of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’ (2014) UN Doc A/HRC/25/63, 7.