A captain of a North Korean fishing fleet, surnamed Choi, was shot and executed for secretly listening to Radio Free Asia (RFA) and other government-banned radio stations at sea. According to North Korean officials, the captain, who served as a radio broadcaster during his military service, often listened to RFA broadcasts, and after becoming a fishing boat captain, he often switched his broadcasts to RFA during his voyages, so North Korean security authorities found him guilty of “attempting to subvert the Workers’ Party of Korea.
Although North Korea has been doing its best to prevent its people from accessing foreign information and has imposed severe punishment on offenders, North Korean fishermen and merchant mariners have the opportunity to listen to the banned broadcasts because they are at sea. According to North Korean officials, the captain had been used to listening to foreign broadcasts since he was a soldier in the past and admitted to listening to Radio Free Asia for more than 15 years, so he was shot in front of 100 other captains and high-ranking fisheries officials.
The captain cooperated with the Kim Jong-un government’s policy of increasing fishing capacity in response to North Korea’s current food shortage. However, he was executed by the government’s firing squad because he was reported to have been listening to Radio Free Asia for a long time, and some North Korean residents said that the news of Choi’s execution had spread among the public.
A source revealed that the captain was reported to North Korean security authorities by fishermen for violations because of his arrogant and insolent attitude. Another source said that the captain listened to Korean radio broadcasts, such as RFA, on board the ship, which impressed the fishermen and swayed the public, so the authorities made an example of the North Korean residents by warning them that listening to foreign broadcasts means they will be punished.
The source also said that North Koreans are curious about the content of RFA because it is different from the education curriculum they received in the past, which told them “not to listen to RFA broadcasts from the U.S. because it is all about anti-North Korea,” but North Koreans still want to know news and information about the outside world, so military radio operators and fishermen actually listen to foreign broadcasts frequently.
However, according to Korean media reports, North Korea may pass the Reactionary Ideology and Culture Rejection Law on December 4 to monitor people’s listening to information broadcast by foreign media.
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