Two teenagers have reportedly been executed in North Korea for watching and selling films from South Korea, according to insiders in the rogue state.
Another teenager was also put to death for murdering his stepmother.
North Korean authorities advised those in their village that the two crimes are as equally bad as each other, according to multiple eye witnesses who were forced to watch the killings.
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They told Radio Free Asia the teens killed were all aged 16 or 17.
"[Security officials] said, 'Those who watch or distribute South Korean movies and dramas, and those who disrupt social order by murdering other people, will not be forgiven and will be sentenced to the maximum penalty: death'," one resident said from Hyesan, the city in which the boys were killed.
Hyesan sits on the rogue nation's border with China, with residents telling external contacts that the government-authorised killings took place back in October at an airfield in the city.
"Hyesan residents gathered in groups at the runway,” the witness said.
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"The authorities put the teenage students in front of the public, sentenced them to death, and immediately shot them."
The teens were caught selling USB drives that contained foreign films in their local marketplace.
According to the source from Hyesan, this is common practice to catch out dissenting North Koreans.
The witness said: "The students were caught in a trap this time."
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The shocking news comes a year after a teenager in North Korea was sentenced to 14 years in prison for watching just five minutes of a film, local publication Daily NK reports.
The shocking punishment is not all that unusual in the country, which has a ban on cultural materials from 'hostile countries' such as South Korea and the US being consumed or imported.
The source explained to Daily NK: “On the 7th, a 14-year-old student from Hyesan City's Elementary and Middle School (our middle school) was arrested while watching the South Korean movie The Uncle.
"They were arrested within five minutes of watching the movie, and they were sentenced to 14 years of hard labour."
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In legal material obtained by Daily NK, the punishment for those ‘who have directly seen, listened to, or kept South Korean films, recordings, compilations, books, songs, paintings, and photos for more than five years and less than 15 years’ is set as 'correctional labour'.
Topics: North Korea, News, World News