Hwang Dong-hyuk, the creator of Squid Game, has addressed an earlier report of a man being sentenced to death for smuggling the show to North Korean students.
As per RFA, the man “smuggled and sold copies” of Squid Game to high-school students in North Korea in 2021. It’s believed he brought a copy of the first season into the country from China and sold it via USB sticks.
Sources told the outlet he’d be executed by firing squad. One student who bought a flash drive was reportedly sentenced to life in prison, while six others were sentenced to six years of hard labor, with teachers and other school administrators facing severe punishment.
Four years later, Squid Game Season 3 has brought the series to a close on Netflix, and the show’s creator is well aware of the “dangers” it poses to the North Korean regime.
Squid Game creator says it shows the power of a “free nation”
Speaking to The Times before Season 3’s release, Hwang was asked about the smuggler’s death. “I don’t know how that accurate that is,” he said.
“I doubt it would be easy for anyone to get access to the show.”
However, Hwang understands that “it’s a dangerous show for North Korea… [it shows] that South Korea is a place where you can criticize capitalism, it proves the superiority of a free nation.”
“In that sense it might be even more dangerous for North Korea,” he added.
Arirang Meari, a state-run website in North Korea, published an article criticizing Squid Game after the first season premiered, claiming that it’s popular because it “exposes the reality of South Korean capitalist culture.”
“It is said that it makes people realize the sad reality of the beastly South Korean society in which human beings are driven into extreme competition and their humanity is being wiped out,” it added (as per Reuters).
In Hwang’s eyes, “a series that acutely criticizes capitalism can only be made if it is a commercial product and people want to invest in it.”
“I’m not saying we need to turn ourselves into a socialist society – that era is done and gone. All we can do is make improvements to liberal democracy and late capitalism. Nobody wants a loss – there’s just more and more greed,” he said.
Read our breakdown of Squid Game Season 3’s ending (and that huge cameo), our ranking of the Squid Game challenges by difficulty, and why Hide and Seek breaks an unwritten Squid Game rule.
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