Copies of Netflix hit series Squid Game are being spread across North Korea after being smuggled over the border, it is reported.
The secretive state strictly censors its media with Western series and films banned under leader Kim Jong-un.
Rules are rigidly enforced in the repressed society and people breaking them could face the death penalty.
But this has not stopped copies of Squid Game being moved around with the drama resonating especially with life in North Korea, according to a report.
The Netflix show, that sees people ready to die in a brutal competition to win a large cash prize, is being smuggled in on memory sticks and other electrical devices.
“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 the city of Pyongsong told Radio Free Asia.
The resident felt that the show is particularly relevant for state officials who do their jobs for money but they also face the risk of death.
“They think the show’s plot kind of parallels their own reality, where they know they could be executed at any time if the government decides to make an example out of them for making too much money, but they all continue to make as much money as possible,” said the source.
“It not only resonates with the rich people, but also with Pyongyang’s youth, because they are drawn to the unusually violent scenes. Also, one of the characters is a North Korean escapee and they can relate to her."
People in North Korea secretly watch the show under blankets at night, using portable media players, the source added.
Smugglers have seen the popularity for Squid Games who also risk their lives to get the series into North Korea, and also relate to it, said a second RFA source.
In October, North Korea's state media slammed Squid Game, saying it is an example of the “beastly” nature of “South Korean capitalist society where mankind is annihilated by extreme competition".
Security on the border with China has become more strict since the Covid outbreak with it typically having been not so difficult to cross. Now there is a kilometre long “kill zone” at the border along with land miles which smugglers have to negotiate.
Just watching Western media though is enough to face the death penalty under the Elimination of Reactionary Thought and Culture law that was introduced last year.
The second RFA source said that the new rule is being strictly enforced but at the same time with the pandemic having caused more poverty, officials can be bribed with money.
Efforts to stamp out influence from the West has gone as far as checking phone text messages from students and people last year were being punished for using a phrase popular in a South Korean programme.
