Daily NK is the first news outlet to have acquired the full text of the “Reactionary Ideology and Culture Rejection Act of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” otherwise known as the “anti-reactionary thought law.” The full text of the law confirms that North Koreans who smuggle in, distribute, or encourage group viewing of movies and dramas from enemy countries can face the death penalty.
The full text of the law acquired by Daily NK is a version of the law that was amended and supplemented by Order No. 1028 of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly on August 19, 2022. The law is made up of four chapters and 41 articles.
The first chapter of the law (articles 1-7) concerns the definitions and aims of the anti-reactionary thought law, while the second chapter (articles 8-14) describes the duties required of officials to stop spread of reactionary thought and culture. The third chapter (articles 15-26) includes a list of media devices and content prohibited by the government along with stipulating bans on the consumption and distribution of reactionary thought and culture. The fourth chapter (article 27-40) stipulates in detail the punishments to be delivered to violators of the law.
REGIME EXPRESSES CONCERN ABOUT CULTURE OF “HOSTILE FORCES”
The law’s first chapter (Basics of the Reactionary Ideology and Culture Rejection Act) defines reactionary thought and culture as “rotten ideology and culture of hostile forces including South Korean publications that paralyzes the people’s revolutionary sense of ideology and social class, and deteriorates and depraves our society, as well as all types of impure and absurd ideology and culture that are not in our own style.” In short, the law states that South Korean movies, dramas, news and other outside content are reactionary thought and culture.
Article 5 (Principle of Reinforcing Ideological and Cultural Education) stipulates that “under circumstances where enemies’ ideological and cultural infiltration schemes are becoming increasingly cunning and heinous, the State shall further strengthen ideological and cultural education for the people so that they are not imbued with reactionary ideology and culture.” This acknowledges that the enactment of the law was due to the political burdens created by the spread of foreign content and its impact on people in the country.
Article 7 (Principle of Punishment of Offenders of Reactionary Ideology and Culture Rejection Order) stipulates that “the State shall enforce strict legal sanctions up to and including death penalty against any citizen bringing in, viewing, and distributing reactionary ideology and culture, depending on the severity, regardless of the reason and the offender’s social class.”
VIOLATORS OF THE LAW CAN FACE EXECUTION
Chapter 4 stipulates punishments for violators of the law. Article 27 (Crime of Distributing South Korean Ideology and Culture) details the punishments given to people who smuggle or distribute South Korean movies and video recordings.
Specifically, the articles states that “any person who views, listens to, or possesses South Korean movies, video recordings, compilations, books, songs, drawings, or photographs, or who brings in and distributes South Korean songs, drawings, photographs, or designs shall be sentenced to five to 10 years of reform through labor. If the severity of the crime is deemed high, the offender shall be sentenced to reform through labor for 10 years or more.” The article goes on to stipulate that “any person who brings in or distributes South Korean movies, video recordings, compilations, and books shall be sentenced to reform through labor for life.”
Article 28 (Crime of Distributing Ideology and Cuture of Hostile Countries) stipulates that “any person who views, listens to, or possesses movies, video recordings, books, songs, drawings, or photographs of hostile countries, or who brings in and distributes songs, drawings, photographs, or designs of hostile countries shall be sentenced to reform through labor for up to five years,” and that “if the severity of the crime is deemed high, the offender shall be sentenced to five to 10 years of reform through labor.”
Similar to Article 27, Article 28 stipulates that people who smuggle or distribute foreign content shall face 10 or more years of reform through labor, a punishment heavier than those given to people who simply consume foreign media. It goes on to state that “any person who brings in or distributes a large amount of movies, video recordings, compilations, and books of hostile countries to a large number of people, or who supports or encourages other people to view or read them in a group shall be sentenced to reform through labor for life or the death penalty.”
Meanwhile, Article 29 (Crime of Distributing Adult Videos and Sexually Explicit Materials and Spreading Superstition) sets forth punishments for people who view or possess adult videos, sexually explicit or superstitutous movies, video recordings, compilations, books, photographs or drawings. The punishments for these violations are the same as those stipulated in Article 28, ranging from at least five years of reform through labor up to the death penalty.
Article 32 (Crime of Reproducing South Korean Culture) sets forth that “any person who speaks, writes, or sings in the South Korean style, or produces publications in South Korean font shall be sentenced to short-term disciplinary labor. If the severity of the crime is deemed high, the offender shall be sentenced to reform through labor up to 2 years.” The Pyongyang Cultural Language Protection Act, which was recently enacted by North Korea, appears to have intensified the punishments detailed in this section of the anti-reactionary thought law.
The anti-reactionary thought law also stipulates punishments of short-term disciplinary labor, reform through labor, and the payment of fines for the consumption of foreign content through the illegal use of televisions and radios (Article 33); the crime of not reporting any activities involved in the smuggling, viewing or distribution of South Korean videos and adult videos (Article 34); and illegally installing operating system programs on cell phones of other people or possessing mobile phones manufactured in other countries (Article 35). The law even lays out punishments for parents when crimes related to reactionary ideology and culture occur as a result of their failure to educate and discipline their children (Article 37).
NORTH KOREA AMENDS AND SUPPLEMENTS ORIGINAL LAW
North Korea enacted the anti-reactionary thought law at the 12th Plenary Session of the 14th Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly in December 2020. At the time, the Rodong Sinmun stated that the law would “further cement our ideological, revolutionary and class positions by thoroughly preventing the inroads and spread of anti-socialist ideology and culture and firming maintaining our ideology, spirit and culture” and “must be observed by all institutions, enterprises, organizations and citizens.” The regime did not divulge any further details about the new law.
In January 2021, Daily NK obtained explanatory materials regarding the law and reported on punishments that could be levied against violators of the law.
The full text of the anti-reactionary thought law Daily NK obtained has some differences with the explanatory materials the outlet acquired in early 2021. In the explanatory materials, the punishments detailed in Article 27 of the law range from five to 15 years of reform through labor, but the full text of the law has been amended to stipulate at least five years and up to 10 years of reform through labor, and that in cases where the severity of the crime is deemed high, violators can face more than 10 years of reform through labor.
Article 27 of the explanatory materials states that “any person who brings in or distributes South Korean movies, video recordings, compilations, and books shall be sentenced to reform through labor for life or the death penalty depending on the severity of the crime, and anyone who organizes or encourages group viewing [of foreign content] shall face the death penalty.” Article 27 of the full text of the law, however, does not include these provisions. North Korea appears to have revised the law in August 2022, amending and supplementing some of the law’s provisions, but it is unclear why these changes were made.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
The full text of the anti-reactionary thought law in English and Korean is available through the PDF file below.
