[imagesource: Press Association Images]

In December of last year, North Korea implemented the “Elimination of Reactionary Thought and Culture” Act.

That means that the dictatorship has basically banned the entry and dissemination of media from the US and South Korea, particularly cultural material like movies, plays, music, and books.

Anyone found distributing or consuming such media faces the possibility of being killed, banished, or severely punished.

Squid Game is apparently enough to unravel the whole social foundation of North Korea because anyone who dares bring the show to the country faces the possibility of being sentenced to death.

Per IndieWire, the South Korean survival thriller follows a group of poverty-stricken contestants who agree to participate in a mysterious game of life or death with a grand prize of nearly $40 million.

North Korean propaganda frames the show as a depiction of the “sad reality of a beastly South Korean society,” reported Variety, but something tells me they can see the likeness between the game and their own society and the threat that any awareness might pose.

As if really driving home the point that art imitates life and life imitates art, a man accused of smuggling the series into North Korea has been sentenced to death by firing squad.

He was found out via a group of high school students who were caught watching the show by the authorities, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA):

U.S.-headquartered independent news agency RFA reported, quoting sources, that the series was smuggled in from China on USB flash drives and that the smuggler faces death by firing squad.

“A student who bought a drive received a life sentence, while six others who watched the show have been sentenced to five years hard labor, and teachers and school administrators have been fired and face banishment to work in remote mines,” RFA reported.

Netflix is not available in China, either, but Squid Game and other prohibited media are watchable via pirating websites.

I wonder if Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk had any idea just how real his show could become.

[sources:indiewire&variety]