People in North Korea, including schoolchildren, are being executed for watching Squid Game and other foreign media, according to new testimony.

Citizens also face being killed for listening to K-pop, a South Korean music genre that includes bands like BTS.

Interviewees have described a climate of fear in which the South’s culture is treated as a serious crime.

The less well-off are more likely to suffer the harshest punishments, while wealthier North Koreans are able to pay corrupt officials to dodge prosecution, it is claimed.

The testimonies were revealed by Amnesty International after conducting 25 in-depth interviews with escapees who have fled the secretive state run by Kim Jong-un‘s regime.

The escapees said watching globally popular South Korean dramas, such as Squid Game, Crash Landing on You, and Descendants of the Sun, can lead to the most extreme consequences, including death.

‘Multiple executions’

One interviewee said they heard from an escapee with family links how people, including high school students, had been executed for watching Squid Game in Yanggang Province, which is close to the Chinese border.

Another execution for distributing the South Korean show was previously documented by Radio Free Asia in neighbouring North Hamgyong Province in 2021.

“Taken together, these reports from different provinces suggest multiple executions related to the shows,” Amnesty said in a statement.

Interviewees also described the perils of listening to foreign music, particularly K-pop from South Korea, with the popular band BTS named in their testimony.

In 2021, The Korea Times reported that a group of teenagers were caught and investigated for listening to the group in South Pyongan Province, which neighbours the capital, Pyongyang.

‘Homes sold to avoid re-education camps’

Choi Suvin, who fled North Korea in 2019, said people would sell their own homes to avoid punishment.

“People are caught for the same act, but punishment depends entirely on money,” the 39-year-old said.

“People without money sell their houses to gather $5,000 or $10,000 to pay to get out of the re-education camps.”

This inequality was further evidenced by the case of Kim Joonsik, who was caught three times watching South Korean dramas, but avoided punishment because his family had connections.

The 28-year-old, who left the country in 2019, said: “Usually when high school students are caught, if their family has money, they just get warnings.

“I didn’t receive legal punishment because we had connections.”

He contrasted his fate with that of three of his sister’s school friends.

In the late 2010s, the girls were condemned to years-long sentences in North Korea’s labour camps because their families could not afford bribes.

‘Executions to brainwash’

People, including schoolchildren, were made to attend public executions as part of their “ideological education”, the interviewees said.

Ms Choi described seeing someone executed for allegedly distributing foreign media in 2017 or 2018, in Sinuiju, near the Chinese border.

“Authorities told everyone to go, and tens of thousands of people from Sinuiju city gathered to watch,” she said.

“They execute people to brainwash and educate us.”

Kim Eunju, 40, said: “When we were 16, 17, in middle school, they took us to executions and showed us everything.

“People were executed for watching or distributing South Korean media. It’s ideological education: if you watch, this happens to you too.”

‘Ideological cage’

Sarah Brooks, deputy regional director at Amnesty, said: “These testimonies show how North Korea is enforcing dystopian laws that mean watching a South Korean TV show can cost you your life – unless you can afford to pay.

“The authorities criminalise access to information in violation of international law, then allow officials to profit off those fearing punishment.

“This is repression layered with corruption, and it most devastates those without wealth or connections.”

She added: “This government’s fear of information has effectively placed the entire population in an ideological cage, suffocating their access to the views and thoughts of other human beings.

“People who strive to learn more about the world outside North Korea, or seek simple entertainment from overseas, face the harshest of punishments.

“This completely arbitrary system, built on fear and corruption, violates fundamental principles of justice and internationally recognised human rights. It must be dismantled.”

Under North Korea’s 2020 Anti-Reactionary Thought and Culture Act, South Korean content is “branded rotten ideology that paralyses the people’s revolutionary sense”.

Those caught consuming such media face between five and 15 years of forced labour under the act, with heavier sentences – including death – for distributing it or organising group viewings.

Fifteen interviewees described how a specialised police unit dubbed the “109 Group” would hunt for foreign media, conducting spot checks on people’s homes, and street searches of mobile phones and bags, all without a warrant.

One defector recalled members of the unit warning: “We don’t want to punish you harshly, but we need to bribe our bosses to save our own lives.”

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Security agents ‘watch it secretly’

Nonetheless, consumption of foreign media is widespread in North Korea, the escapees said.

They described how dramas, films and music were smuggled in from China on USB drives, which are then plugged into notebook computers.

One interviewee said: “Workers watch it openly, party officials watch it proudly, security agents watch it secretly, and police watch it safely.

“Everyone knows everyone watches, including those who do the crackdowns.”

Most of those interviewed were aged between 15 and 25 years old when they escaped.

The most recent departure had fled in June 2020, with 11 more having left between 2019 and 2020.

Escapes have been rare since 2020, when COVID-19 border closures sealed the country off from the outside world.

Members of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani‘s Department of Health reportedly held their first “Global Oppression and Public Health Working Group” meeting on Tuesday, according to The New York Post.

Members of the group met for a more than hourlong presentation at the department’s headquarters to discuss the group’s purpose, referencing what they called the “genocide” in Gaza as an example of global oppression.

“We really developed in response to the ongoing genocide in Palestine,” the presenter said in audio obtained by The New York Post.

The presenter continued, “And the working group aims to address the growing interests among the health department staff to learn about current and ongoing global oppression in its many forms and how it influences the advancement of health equity.”

WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL SAYS MAMDANI’S TEAM IS A MIX OF ‘NORMAL BUREAUCRATS’ AND ‘LEFT-WING ZEALOTS’

The “Global Oppression and Public Health Working Group” reportedly cited the “genocide” in Gaza as a factor in its mission. (Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The New York Post also reported that the mission of the group was to study the impact of global oppression on “the health and well-being of priority communities in NYC vis-a-vis trauma, violence and discrimination” as well as “supporting colleagues negatively impacted” by it.

The news came days after Mamdani announced Dr. Alister Martin as commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Prior to his new position, Martin was the founder of Vot-ER, a political organization that aimed to provide voter registration in healthcare settings.

The New York City Department of Health and City Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

ZOHRAN MAMDANI DINGED IN NEW YORK TIMES REPORT FOR ‘PROBLEM’ OF NOT HAVING BLACK DEPUTY MAYORS

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivers his inaugural address Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, outside City Hall. (Fox News/Pool)

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported in December that more than 80 individuals — about 20% of Mamdani’s appointees at the time — had ties to anti-Zionist organizations or movements.

One of Mamdani’s transition aides, Hassaan Chaudhary, previously referred to Israel as “barbaric” and used the term “Jew” as a slur, according to the ADL.

ADL CHIEF WARNS NYC MAYOR-ELECT ZOHRAN MAMDANI POSES A ‘CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER’ TO JEWISH COMMUNITY

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s appointees have come under scrutiny for alleged anti-Zionist ties. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

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Several other appointees were also cited for statements that appear to support or justify violence against Israel and the Oct. 7 attacks.

Fox News’ Bonny Chu contributed to this report.

On Friday (6 February 2026), a suicide blast took place in the Shia Mosque Qaiser Khadijatul Kubra located in Tarlai Kalan area in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad. This is the 22nd episode of terrorist attacks on Shia community in Pakistan in the last 20 years. 50 people died and at least 169 people were injured in this attack. Since 2009, 777 people of Shia community have lost their lives due to terrorism in Pakistan. The current incident has once again brought to light the truth that communal terrorism against the Shia community in Pakistan has neither ended nor is it a sudden incident, but it is a persistent problem that has been going on for decades.

Explosion near the entry gate of the mosque in Islamabad

The targeting of Shia worshipers on the outskirts of Islamabad, considered the safest and most heavily monitored area of ​​Pakistan, exposes the country’s deep failure. According to officials, the blast occurred near the entry gate of the mosque when a large number of people were gathering for Friday prayers. This is the same pattern which has been seen many times in the past during terrorist attacks in Pakistan when terrorists attack a religious place to kill as many people as possible.

20 year old story of Shia genocide in Pakistan

In the last twenty years, suicide blasts, target killings and mass killings have been taking place in Shia mosques, Imambaras, processions, hospitals, buses and public places in different parts of Pakistan. Historically also, Shia community has not been safe anywhere in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Karachi and now Islamabad and Hazara Shias, pilgrims, Maulvis and common worshipers have continuously become victims of this violence. This sequence proves that this is not a security lapse, but the result of long-standing immunity given to communal terrorist organizations.

Many people died in the 2009-10 suicide attack.

The first major case of attack on the Shia community in Pakistan in the 21st century came to light in 2009 itself, when on 5 February 2009, 32 people died in a suicide blast in the Shia mosque in Dera Ghazi Khan. After this, on February 20, there was an attack during the funeral of Shia leader Sher Zaman, in which 30 people were killed and 157 were injured. Then in April 2010, there was an attack on the Shia Mosque of Chakwal in which 22 people lost their lives. Not only this, in September 2010, several blasts were carried out targeting a Shia procession in Lahore, in which 30 civilians were killed and in the same year, there was a suicide attack on a Shia-run hospital in Hangu, in which 16 people died.

How many Shia Muslims died in Quetta and Rahim Yar Khan?

After this, Hazara Shias and religious processions became the center of attacks in 2011 and 2012, where first, 11 Hazara Shias were killed in a blast outside the mosque in Quetta on the day of Eid-ul-Fitr in August 2011, and then in 2012, there was the target killing of Pasban-e-Jafariya leader Askari Raza. 18 people were killed in a bomb blast at a Chehlum procession in Rahim Yar Khan, and 18 civilians were killed in an attack on a bus carrying Shia passengers in Kohistan. Also, in the same year, 20 Shia Muslims were mass murdered in Mansehra.

2013 proved to be the most dreadful year of communal violence, when on January 10, 115 people died and more than 270 were injured in twin blasts in Quetta. A few weeks later, there was a suicide attack on a Shia mosque in Hangu, in which 19 people were killed, and then on 16 February, a suicide attack on Hazara Shias in Quetta, in which 91 people died. On March 3, 63 people were killed in a blast outside a Shia mosque in Karachi. These attacks showed that communal terrorist networks are spread throughout Pakistan.

Suicide attack in Karachi-Peshawar

Even after this the bloodshed did not stop. In January 2015, 61 worshipers died in a blast in Shikarpur Shia mosque. In February 2015, 19 people were killed in an attack on a Shia mosque in Peshawar. In May 2015, 46 people were killed in an attack on a bus carrying Shia passengers in Karachi, and in March 2017, 24 people were killed and 70 injured in a bomb blast in Parachinar.

The situation has not changed even in recent years. First, in March 2022, there was a suicide attack in the Shia Mosque of Peshawar, in which 63 people lost their lives. This was followed by the attack on the Zhob Army base in July 2023, which led to communal tension and Sunni-Shia clashes in the area, which showed that terrorist violence is still fueling social divisions, and in March 2025, a terrorist attack on the Pir Rakhel Shah shrine in Jhal Magsi killed 35 Shia pilgrims.

Communal terror spread throughout Pakistan

After this, the attack in Islamabad on 6 February 2026 is proof that communal terrorism in Pakistan has now completely reached the capital of Pakistan. This attack completely demolishes the claim that such violence is limited only to border or unstable areas. These repeated incidents make it clear that Pakistan’s Shia community is still being systematically targeted and instead of being protected, they are slowly forgotten after every attack, while the fundamentalist ideologies and networks responsible for these massacres are still present in Pakistan’s security structure.

From the Skripal poisonings to the invasion of Ukraine to subverting American elections, it is hard to think of a Russian outrage Lieutenant General Vladimir ‍Alekseyev has not been involved in.

He is now fighting for his life in a Moscow hospital, the victim himself of foul play.

The military intelligence deputy chief had a role in so many of Vladimir Putin’s acts of malice stretching back decades.

And he would have had no shortage of enemies.

And yet, this high-ranking soldier spy was so badly protected that his would-be killer was able to shoot him several times at close range in the stairwell of his own apartment building.

As in any cheap spy novel, the shooter is reported to have slipped in behind him, entering the building by posing as a food delivery courier.

That is not the only mystery about this astonishing attempted assassination.

The Kremlin’s response to it has been curious too.

“It’s clear”, said spokesman Dmitri Peskov, “that such military leaders and high-ranking specialists are at risk during wartime. It’s not the Kremlin’s job to figure out how to ensure their safety.”

You’re on your own boys, seemed to be the message, hardly reassuring for some of Russia’s highest-ranking and most decorated commanders. And Lt Gen Alekseyev is just the latest in a line of top Russians neutralised or attacked on home turf.

Officially, Russia is unsurprisingly blaming Ukraine.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called it a terrorist act designed to “provoke, in turn, the goal of disrupting the negotiation process”.

But in truth, there are any number of people who would have wanted Alekseyev dead.

He helped orchestrate the botched attempt to kill Sergei Skripal in Salisbury with the nerve agent Novichok.

He was deeply involved with Russia’s murderous campaign in Syria that targeted hospitals, clinics and aid convoys.

He is alleged to have been involved in Russian efforts to undermine both the 2016 and 2020 US elections.

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And when Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner group mutinied and marched on Moscow, Lt Gen Alekseyev helped negotiate an end to its rebellion.

Mr Prigozhin himself, of course, would die some time later in a mysterious plane accident.

If Ukrainians were behind the attempt on the general’s life, it would signal a catastrophic failure of security at the very top of Russia’s military intelligence structure.

But it may just as well be the result of an internal power struggle within those elites.

Either way, the shooting bodes ill for the leadership of Putin’s Russia.

The bodies of four tourists (three women and one man) were found on Friday (February 06, 2026) in a room of Digambar Jain Dharamshala in Nalanda. Everyone has been identified. All of them belonged to the same family. The relationship was that of mother and son-daughter. SIT has been formed to investigate the matter. Along with this, a two-member investigation team is being sent to Bengaluru.

The police has not clarified whether it is murder or suicide. The body has been sent for post-mortem. A medical board has been formed for this. Videography will be done during post mortem.

Why is there suspicion of murder?

On the other hand, the question of murder is also arising because everyone’s hands were tied. Except for three women, one man had sellotape stuck on his mouth. All these bodies were hanging from the ceiling. On the other hand, even though the room was locked from inside, anyone could close or open it from outside with the help of a key, hence the possibility of murder cannot be ruled out. In such a situation, a lot will become clear after the arrival of CCTV footage and post mortem report.

One lakh 18 thousand cash found in the room

According to the statement issued by the police, Rajgir police station incharge received information at 9.40 am on Friday that four Jain pilgrims were staying at Digambar Jain Dharamshala. He has been locked in the room for the last three days and it stinks. After this the police arrived for investigation. The room was booked in the name of GR Prasad. Aadhar card, PAN card, ATM card and Rs 1 lakh 18 thousand in cash were found from the room. It was told by the police that during the investigation, a large quantity (25 leaves) of sleeping medicine was found in the belongings of the deceased.

• Identification of the dead
• GR Sumangala, Age- 78 Years (Husband- Ratnabala Raju GN)
• Shilpa GR, Age- 48 Years (Father- Ratnabala Raju GN)
• Shrutha GB, Age- 43 years (Father- Ratnabala Raju GN)
• GR Naga Prasad, Age- 50 Years (Father- Ratnabala Raju GN)

At present the police is avoiding reaching any conclusion. Considering the seriousness of the incident, investigation is being done from every angle. Police has received the application from Digambar Jain Dharamshala. The CCTV footage installed in Dharamshala is being examined. Nalanda police has contacted Karnataka police and informed their families about the incident.

Also read- Patna News: Patna shaken by firing, murder in broad daylight in Phulwarisharif, young man riddled with bullets