A North Korean man will serving the death penalty for smuggling (and selling) popular South Korean drama Squid Game into the country.
In fact, it isn’t just this man who is facing grave punishment, but a group of high school students who purchased the show in the form of a USB drive from him as well.
The crime was detected by officials in the area when the group of high school students were watching the show in school.
According to a report by Business Insider, the man who sold the USB drive will be executed by firing squad.
The student who bought the USB drive will receive a life sentence, while his 6 other friends will be sentenced to 5 years of hard labour.
North Korean authorities also fired the teachers and school administrators, sending them away to remote areas for mine work, justifying the move by saying “the students’ education was being neglected”.
Shortly after, authorities also began hunting for memory storage devices across the township, sending residents into a state of anxiety and fear.
Squid Game, a show based on hundreds of debt-ridden citizens competing with their lives at risk for money, is Netflix’s most watched show ever garnering worldwide critical acclaim.
The irony is how the show was so popular that even people at the North were willing to risk their lives for it.