NEWS
Possession of foreign media now attracts 10 years in prison
North Korea is really going out to maintain its image as a prison and a hellhole.
In recent news, the totalitarian regime of Kim Jong-un has made it law for anyone who is caught in possession of foreign media would be locked up for 10 years.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks to top delegates of the Workers’ Party of Korea in Pyongyang. (KCNA via Agence France-Presse)
On Sunday, April 2, 2017, South Korean news agency Yonhap claimed it had gotten a copy of the 2015 revised criminal code of North Korea. This, of course, is a rarity because North Korea is a secretive state that has shut itself from the outside world. Also, the state-run media does not report criminal cases.
According to the new code, anyone who imports, distributes, possesses foreign media which it describes as “decadent culture” would be jailed for a minimum of 5 years with hard labour and in extreme cases 10 years with hard labour. This law also applies to people who engage in “decadent acts.“
In the wacky world of North Korea, decadent acts include the “consumption or re-enactment of “images, photos, books, music and movies that are decadent and suggestive” according to Yonhap.
One of the reasons for this new law is because of the increase in the smuggling of hit South Korean soap operas. South Korean soap operas have been extremely popular in Nigeria within the last three years.
North Korea has been in the news lately because of its testing of missiles. “China is the only one that can control Kim Jong Un, this crazy fat kid that’s running North Korea,” said Sen. John McCain on March 27, 2017.
