North Korean Student to Reportedly Face Firing Squad for Smuggling Copy of Squid Game Into Country

North Korea has a strict ban against the possession or distribution of material from the West and South Korea. The government is reportedly taking the incident very seriously and will execute the man by firing squad.

A young North Korean man, a student, will reportedly be executed by a firing squad for bringing a copy of Netflix's 'Squid Game' into the country, Radio Free Asia reported, citing sources.

The student is said to have returned from China with a digital version of the South Korean hit series on a hidden USB flash drive. He watched the show with fellow students and is also reported by state media to have sold a copy. The student who smuggled in the wildly popular show has received a death sentence, while those that viewed it with him are facing five years of hard labour apiece, the report said.

The student was caught out by the country's vast surveillance network - 109 Sangmu - who said that they had received a report that a group of students were watching a Western TV show.

According to Radio Free Asia, the North Korean government is taking the incident "very seriously". The Central Committee has reportedly dismissed the school principal, the school's youth secretary, and the student's homeroom teacher who will reportedly be sent to work in the nation's coal mines.

Squid Game is an extremely popular Netflix show which tells the story of heavily indebted South Koreans who agree to participate in deadly children's games to win a prize of some 45.6 billion won ($38 million). Anyone who fails any of the games faces death, and only one contestant can stay alive and take the prize.