A smuggler who sold copies of Netflix’s smash hit series “Squid Game” in North Korea has been sentenced to death by firing squad, according to …
A smuggler who sold copies of Netflix’s smash hit series “Squid Game” in North Korea has been sentenced to death by firing squad, according to a report. The man allegedly smuggled copies of the Korean-language show on USB drives from China into North Korea, where seven high school students were caught watching the footage, sources told Radio Free Asia. A student who bought one of the flash drives received a life sentence, while six others who watched the footage have been sentenced to five years of hard labor. Teachers and administrators at the school were also fired or face forced labor in remote mines, sources told the outlet. Radio Free Asia reported last week that the hit series had made its way in the reclusive hermit kingdom despite efforts by North Korean authorities to keep it out of the country, where foreign media is banned. The dystopian, graphic and violent show about 456 debt-ridden South Koreans playing a series of life-or-death children’s games for a chance to win $38 million resonates with North Koreans, especially the rich residents of Pyongyang, sources told RFA. “Squid Game has been able to enter the country on memory storage devices such as USB flash drives and SD cards, which are smuggled in by ship, and then make their way inland,” a resident of Pyongsong told RFA.
