Bizarre: North Korean sentenced to death for watching Squid Game

This may sound very strange and quite disturbed, but I really wanted to go to North Korea someday. I had it all planned out: taking the Trans-Mongolian Express to Vladivostok and then by train to North Korea. I find it such a fascinating yet frightening country. And I was/am so curious about what it is like to experience that country. Do you get to see much of how grim it is there, or is everyone just acting? It seems like a very surreal experience to witness it once.

I am increasingly coming to terms with that, because such a country absolutely does not deserve to receive income from tourism (since that money does not go to the people). Add to that the way the people are treated, what happened to American student Otto Warmbier, and now with a North Korean resident who smuggled Squid Game into the country. He has received the death penalty.

What. The. Fuck. The man was accused of smuggling copies of Squid Game into the country from China on USB sticks and selling them. The person who bought a copy received a life sentence, six others who watched must spend five years in a labor camp where they will have to work. Rumors say there was a seventh person, but their parents paid $$3,000 to keep him free. The one who initially smuggled the series into the country received the death penalty. Even worse: he is to be executed by a number of shooters.

This really made me feel sick. These are all students who have lost their entire lives just by watching the most popular series ever. I thought (and hoped) I had stumbled upon The Onion, but this is the reality in North Korea. If you want to read more about it, click here, but you have been warned: this will ruin your entire day.

Image: Netflix