It looks like things are going depressingly, horrifyingly par-for-the-course in what may be the worst country in the world:
A human rights group reported that North Korea has executed at least seven people over the past decade for watching or distributing K-pop videos.
South Korea-based group Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG) interviewed 638 North Korean defectors since 2015 in an effort to better map out execution sites and numbers.
The group's report lists a variety of reported offenses punishable by death, including seven instances of "watching or distributing South Korean videos," including videos of popular music from South Korea, known as K-pop. The group notes at least one reported example of a man executed for illegally selling CDs and USBs containing South Korean movies, dramas and music videos.
"What is K-pop, and why is it banned in North Korea?"
Well, K-pop is a genre of music from South Korea, and on its face it looks rather harmless, to say the least:
Ah, but yet:
North Korean media has warned that K-pop's influence could make the North "crumble like a damp wall" due to their "anti-socialist and nonsocialist" influences.
