North Korean youths arrested for watching K-drama after friend's tip-off

Two young North Koreans have been arrested for secretly watching a South Korean drama series classified by authorities as "subversive content" — after a friend who watched it with them turned them in out of guilt.

Daily NK Japan, a specialist outlet covering North Korea, cited a source in South Pyongan Province on Thursday as saying that two youths from Pyongsong City were arrested by the Ministry of Social Security — the country's police force — late last month for watching a South Korean drama series that has generated wide interest among young people, along with other banned content.

The drama the two watched was last year's hit "The Tyrant's Chef," according to the outlet. The series circulates among North Korean youth under the title "The King's Chef" and has spread rapidly by word of mouth. The source said young North Koreans describe it as so addictive that "once you start watching, you can't look away," and that imitating the dishes cooked in the show and mimicking the main characters' speech have become something of a trend.

The two arrested youths had been close friends since their school days and had secretly watched foreign video content together for years. In mid-June, they invited another friend over, saying it was a shame to keep the show to themselves.

Trouble followed when the newly invited friend, gripped by guilt, went to the authorities on his own. After days of anxious deliberation, he reportedly walked into a Ministry of Social Security office, pleaded for leniency and reported his friends' "anti-socialist behavior."

Acting on the informant's cooperation, security officers raided the scene late last month and detained the two youths who had been watching the illegal content. The friend who turned himself in was released without serious consequence, while the other two underwent a home search and intensive questioning, according to the source.

"The families of the two arrested youths are living in fear that the entire household could be banished from Pyongsong City to a harsher region as a result of this incident," the source said.