KUALA LUMPUR: A man who was caught by North Korean authorities for smuggling and selling copies of the smash hit TV series Squid Game has been sentenced to death by firing squad.
The North Korean man was found out after seven secondary school students were caught watching the popular show that is now a global phenomenon.
According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), the smuggler is believed to have sold digital copies of the Squid Game series stored in USB flash drives after bringing it in from China.
Sources from RFA revealed that all those directly and indirectly involved had received extremely harsh punishments.
Apparently, one student who had purchased a flash drive of the series received a life sentence.
Six other students who had watched the show have been sentenced to five years of hard labour.
Their school's teachers and administrators have also been fired and face banishment to work in remote mines.
Despite the North Korean government's best efforts to keep foreign media out, copies of the popular series had arrived in the reclusive country and have been spreading via USB flash drives and SD cards.
A source in law enforcement in the North Hamgyong province told RFA's Korean Service: "This all started last week when a secondary school student secretly bought a USB flash drive containing the South Korean drama and watched it with one of his best friends in class."
"The friend told several other students, who became interested, and they shared the flash drive with them.
"They were caught by the censors in 109 Sangmu, who had received a tipoff," said the source.
The 109 Sangmu or Surveillance Bureau Group 109 refers to the government strike force that primarily catches illegal video watchers.
Apparently, the recent arrest of the seven students marks the first time the newly passed law on the "Elimination of Reactionary Thought and Culture" by the government has been applied to a case involving minors.
The law is believed to carry a maximum penalty of death for watching, keeping or distributing media from capitalist nations, namely South Korea and the US.
