This year’s Winter Olympics have been very interesting in terms of North Korean antics alone, like Kim’s sister’s side-eye for Vice-President Pence or the creepy cheer routines of the “Army of Beauties.” And now, we have one more intriguing Winter Olympics moment brought to us by the North Koreans, namely a North Korean speed skater, Jong Kwang Bom, who may or may not be forced into a gulag when he returns home.

Here’s what happened: Jong Kwang Bom was competing in a speed skating event when he not only fell (twice), but evidently attempted to trip the Japanese competitor and was, thus, disqualified from the event.

Here’s the video:

朝鲜短道速滑选手摔倒，却去抓对手的冰鞋。据《今日美国》（USA Today）报道，16岁朝鲜短道速滑选手郑光范（Jong Kwang Bom）在冬奥会周二比赛中摔倒，伸手抓对手冰鞋。 pic.twitter.com/2l1J2njEID

— 李子佛 (@lizife) February 21, 2018

It’s pretty clear that he was trying to sabotage his competition. Normally, I would be appalled at behavior like that, but honestly, my heart breaks for Jong Kwang Bom. I don’t think he’s like competitors who cheat because they are trophy-greedy, jealous, or dead-set on winning for selfish reasons at all costs.

His face in photos from the event is not the face of that kind of cheater:

I think his is the face of someone who is desperate to win because he knows that bringing shame to his country could spell trouble– even doom and despair– for not only him but his whole family. Or, as USA Today put it, “As [Bom] emerged in the interview zone afterward, Jong wore the kind of look you’d expect from someone who might have to go home and explain to a military regime with nuclear weapons why you performed so badly while representing your country.”

Hopefully, nothing bad will happen to Jong Kwang Bom or his family. But considering he’s governed by a psychopath who kills members of his own family and government higher-ups like it’s nothing, there’s a chance Bom might suffer some adverse consequences for not only failing to perform well, but also bringing disgrace to North Korea via his cheating and disqualification.

Reddit users understand this potentiality:

“yeah, he’s probably headed to a work camp back in north korea. Did you see NK cheer squad’s reaction when he fell during the first start? smh, they know it, you can’t embarrass the great leader like this.”

“I hope he isn’t disqualified from life once he gets home.”

“That dude was literally reaching for his life”

“Somebody check on that man’s family stat”

“yup he’s dead”

“Brave move, grabbing at knives slicing down with 100s of lbs of force.”

“A poor execution by NK leads to a successful execution by NK.”

Will Jong Kwang Bom actually be sent to a work camp, hurt, or killed by the regime because of his poor performance and alleged cheating? Who knows. Many people think the regime won’t kill its athletes after they perform badly because eventually they’d have no athletes left. Others think that, because most North Koreans aren’t even able to watch the games, Bom will be passed off as a hero despite his losses (especially since he went after the Japanese speed skater, as some Koreans have resentment for the Japanese). Still others think athletes like Bom are part of the more privileged classes in North Korea, and, therefore, are less susceptible to the sadistic whims of their dictator.

All that said, I can guarantee you that, regardless of whatever privileges Bom has as a North Korean, he is still scared of his government. More specifically, he’s scared of messing up so bad that his government will punish him in its characteristically brutal way. He probably knows what can happen to athletes when they get on the wrong side of the regime.

That deep fear of messing up (and governmental retribution), which all North Koreans probably feel at some level, should be heartbreaking for any sane onlooker.

That’s why it’s so mind-boggling that the left-leaning media has, from time to time, been amused, delighted, and even romanced by Kim Jong-un’s sister and the North Korean Army of Beauties during the 2018 Olympics.

It’s one thing to resist a doctrine and narrative (i.e. American conservatism, Trumpism) you don’t agree with politically. But liberals are so dead-set on being contrary to everything Trump that they’re willing to praise elements of the Trump (and America)-hating regime’s presence at the games and, in so doing, downplay the fact that the North Korean regime has created a waking nightmare for its own citizens.

It’s ridiculous.