North Korea today (Tuesday) published a particularly venomous propaganda article against the South Korean horror drama The Squid Games,
calling the company a "monstrous" country.
The article, which was published on the regime's propaganda website "Arrang Maari", which is intended for a foreign audience, since North Korea is not officially connected to the Internet, was written by a film anchor from the south whose name was not published, and may not exist.
"The series demonstrates what happens in an unequal society in which human beings become tools for the rich. It seems to well illustrate the monstrous reality of South Korean society, in which people are pushed into ruthless competition that destroys every trace of their humanity," the article said.
"South Korea's capitalist culture is a place where corruption and people with immorality or values are particularly prevalent," the article said, which is the first reference by any factor in a country closed to successful drama on the Netflix content service.
However, it is unlikely that any of the North Korean citizens got to watch the series, at least legally.
The information drive smuggling market with series from the south, smuggling done through China, to North Korea shuts down regime regimes and last year a law was passed in the country that tightens the punishment for anyone caught while possessing foreign series or movies.
The name of the law, "The Law Against Reactionary Thought," indicates the regime's commitment to combating cultural influence from the south, which so far has come mostly in the form of popular soap operas smuggled into the country on mobile devices.
Ironically, however, the reality in which people are imprisoned in facilities with armed guards, when forced to perform chores, is part of the daily reality for hundreds of thousands of people in the North Korean detention camp system.
Members of the social class who are considered unfaithful to the regime, are sometimes born and spend all their lives in concentration camps, where hunger, hard labor and the sadism of the guards may be reminiscent of a successful Netflix drama, from anything found in South Korea.