N. Koreans risking lives for soap operas

Teams of North Korean agents known as "109 squads" are sweeping through border towns at night, arresting smugglers and confiscating banned South Korean videos and music amid concerns about the popularity of soap operas from Seoul, a think tank said, according to the Associated Press.

Those convicted of sneaking contraband movies into the communist country face harsh penalties _ including public execution in some cases, researchers at the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification said.

North Korea is one of the world`s most isolated and repressive nations, with average citizens banned from watching or listening to anything but state TV and radio and prohibited from owning PCs. Listening to banned broadcasts can draw years of hard labor, and spreading illicit information can mean death, the institute said in a report released Thursday.

But the AP report said North Koreans, from soldiers to civilians, appear to be risking their lives to smuggle in videos from China in a trend some see as a potential threat to the authoritarian power leader Kim Jong-il holds over the nation of 24 million.

"The control of information is one of the powers that Kim Jong-il has wielded over the last 15 years," Peter Beck, a Korean affairs expert who teaches at American University in Washington, said in Seoul. "His control on flow of information is weakening, and that I think poses a serious threat to his power."

He said Pyongyang may fear that North Koreans will become disillusioned with the regime after getting a glimpse from the videos of life on the other side of the border.