North Korea executes two high school students for watching K-dramas

North Korea executed two high school students for reportedly watching and distributing South Korean dramas among their friends.

The two teenagers met at a high school in Hyesan, in the Ryanggang province of the country, where they used to watch South Korean and American dramas.

The teenagers were executed in front of the public by being shot by a firing squad at an airfield. The locals were forced to watch the executions.

North Korean authorities said that the "crimes" committed by the teens were "evil," reported The Independent, citing local media.

North Korea is a highly centralised, one-party totalitarian dictatorship. It has been ruled by one family for decades. Three generations of the Kim family have ruled the country with absolute repression, making it one of the world's most repressive states.

The North Korean government has absolute control over its citizens' lives. People have no freedom of expression, assembly, association, or religion.

According to a BBC report, three teenagers were sent to a re-education camp last year for cutting their hair like K-pop idols. The citizens are forced to smuggle South Korean shows on flash drives as they have no access to the internet and social media. Only a few state-controlled TV channels decide what a person can watch.

Anyone caught with large amounts of foreign media can be sentenced to death. Those caught watching foreign films or shows can be jailed for 15 years.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un has been trying to stop outside information from reaching North Koreans. The country is cut off from the world, and citizens live in isolation.

In a letter to state media last year, Kim urged the country's Youth League to crack down on "unsavoury, individualistic, anti-socialist behaviour" among young people. He wants to stop foreign speech, hairstyles, and clothes, which he described as "dangerous poisons."

He had also reportedly banned people from laughing, to mark the tenth anniversary of the death of former leader Kim Jong-il.