North Korea is watching its Olympic athletes closely. If they defect, their families will pay.

Why don’t North Korean Olympians just run away?

While athletes have defected at international competitions before, it’s rare. North Korea is notorious for threatening families and rewarding people for informing on each other.

North Koreans are constantly under threat of being imprisoned and tortured along with three generations of their families if they step out of line, and defecting during the Olympics is an especially dangerous proposition.

Why is it such a risk? 

"I wouldn't have even considered it," defector Han Seo-hee, who was once part of a North Korean cheerleading troupe, told CNN. "It will be the same for the cheerleading squad this time. They have family back home, they know if they defect, their family will be terrified and punished."

A former North Korean police officer told CNN that the athletes are likely under constant surveillance. They wouldn’t be staying in their rooms alone or even allowed to go to the bathroom unaccompanied.

How does North Korea control an entire nation?

On today’s show, Doc explained the five main ways North Korea keeps a chokehold on its people, and he and Jeffy called out the “culpable” media for praising Kim Jong Un’s sister and the country’s infamous cheerleaders.

“Propaganda is a part of any totalitarian regime like this,” Doc said. “When you say, ‘Kim Jong Un’s sister, look at her’ … you’re helping her with her job as propaganda minister.”

Listen to the full segment here.

To see more from Doc, visit his channel on TheBlaze and listen live to “The Morning Blaze with Doc Thompson” weekdays 6 a.m. – 9 a.m. ET, only on TheBlaze Radio Network.