From what I've heard this doesn't really represent the on the ground reality of NK. From what I've read, thumb drives of South Korean media are rampant and pervasive in NK for those rich enough to have something to play it on which is seems like some substantial portion(wild guess 20-30%) of the population.
So I'd imagine most of those people have seen squid game. This just seems like more of a good headline to get to reference squid game and NK together and pick a specific example of some guy getting caught.
While North Korea does have draconian punishments for smugglers and well, pretty much anything that puts the stability of the state at risk, Radio Free Asia is a propaganda mill that vomits out endless bullshit.
I have a feeling that this happened while men forced to wear the same haircut as Kim Jong Un landed unicorns on the sun, if you catch my drift.
I don’t trust anything reported about North Korea. For all we know, the authorities themselves smuggled it in simply to make an example of a few, to maintain the status quo of fearful obedience. There’s just no way to verify anything that’s reported about NK.
The fact one of the main characters is a North Korean escapee who is desperately trying to get the rest of the family over to south korea is probably a big reason.
I believe there was indeed a two-pronged approach in that NK also proclaimed the material to be an obvious example of the detrimental effects of capitalism in SK.
So I'd imagine most of those people have seen squid game. This just seems like more of a good headline to get to reference squid game and NK together and pick a specific example of some guy getting caught.