North Korean Embassy Raided for Watching Korean Drama

South Korean media revealed that the North Korean embassy in China was raided after reports of watching Korean dramas there.

North Korean people at a national celebration event - Photo: Reuters

South Korea's Joongang Daily reported today (July 27) that a group of officials from the Ministry of State Security and the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea "rushed" to Beijing immediately after hearing that a senior diplomat was watching a South Korean TV drama.

The information was provided by an official responsible for supervising embassy staff. The person is an official in charge of light industry - an influential position in Pyongyang's diplomacy.

Following the raid, which is believed to have taken place last month, all North Korean citizens in the embassy, ​​including relatives of diplomats, were placed under investigation.

The group of officials searched computers, hard drives, portable storage drives and phones for documents related to South Korea, even checking their ideological purity.

As a result, “countless” people were found to be in violation.

According to South Korean media, the Pyongyang government absolutely prohibits people from watching South Korean films, with the most severe punishment being public execution.

It is reported that many North Korean citizens defect from the country after watching South Korean dramas.

One of the senior diplomatic figures who defected last year, Thae Yong Ho, Pyongyang's deputy ambassador to Britain, said almost everyone he knew had watched South Korean dramas.

According to Mr. Thae, the regime of leader Kim Jong Un is having difficulty controlling this issue. “There are two things that the regime (North Korea) cannot control: drugs and South Korean dramas,” the defector said.

According to tuoitre.vn