North Korea warns parents who let their kids watch Hollywood blockbusters they will be sent to prison camps amid crackdown on Western movies and TV shows
- Pyongyang is stepping up efforts to remove foreign films and TV shows
- Parents who break the rules now face jail, not the stern warning of the past
Parents in North Korea who allow their children to watch Hollywood blockbusters have been warned that those will be sent to prison camps amid Western media crackdowns in the country, officials said.
Although in the past parents could get away with a serious warning if their child was caught possessing foreign media.
Pyongyang has now escalated its efforts to remove all foreign media from the East Asian country by telling parents they will face severe penalties if their children are caught watching illegal foreign films.
Inminban, the neighborhood watch meetings, are being set up to inform parents that no tolerance will be shown to those who allow their children to be exposed to Western content, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported.
The parent of a child caught watching foreign films or television programs is sent to a labor camp for six months, but their children must serve five years.
The country’s dictator Kim Jong-un has tightened restrictions on imported popular culture over fears that younger generations will be exposed to outside influence
The Telegraph reported that those who talk, dance or sing “like a South Korean” will also serve six months, while their parents will serve a similar term.
According to sources in the country, it is said that parents are ordered to raise their children “well” in the socialist ideals of the state.
Foreign media, especially anything deemed “Western,” is strictly prohibited in North Korea, which brainwashes its people into supporting the ruling regime.
The eradication of imported media and popular culture is believed to be based on fears that younger generations in North Korea will be affected when exposed to outside sources.
Kim Jong-un views South Korea as a US puppet state and is sensitive to any media crossing the border.
The source told the RFA: ‘The host of the meeting emphasizes parental responsibility and says education for children starts at home.
“If parents don’t raise their children from moment to moment, they will dance and sing about capitalism and become anti-socialists.”
A death sentence can be expected for anyone convicted of distributing smuggled videos.
Parents who allow their children to watch Hollywood movies in North Korea will be sent to prison camps (stock image)
Last October, two teenage boys, believed to be between the ages of 16 and 17, were gunned down at an airport in front of terrified locals in the city of Hyesan for watching and selling films from neighboring South Korea.
A third boy of the same age was executed with them for the murder of his stepmother, with locals saying the crimes were ‘equally bad’.
Footage has also been released of a group of children and parents sitting in front of a large crowd as their sentences are read for violating the Rejector of Reactionary Thought and Culture Act by watching foreign films.
News of the suppression came as state media said North Korea had tested four long-range Hwasal-2 missiles.
The move was to sharpen its rapid response capabilities for “enemy forces,” the Korean Central News Agency reported.
