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Kim Jong-un deems K-pop a “vicious cancer”
Kim Jong-un has deemed K-pop a “vicious cancer” capable of corrupting young North Koreans’ “attire, hairstyles, speeches, behaviors,” The New York Times reported.
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Cancerous?: South Korea's K-pop superstars BTS. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has called K-Pop a "vicious cancer". (Courtesy of Big Hit Entertainment/Handout via REUTERS)
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im Jong-un has deemed K-pop a “vicious cancer” capable of corrupting young North Koreans’ “attire, hairstyles, speeches, behaviors,” The New York Times reported. The North Korean supreme leader has further enacted a new law that punishes those who consume and smuggle South Korean entertainment with hard labor and even the death penalty.
The sentiment follows his recent letter in state media calling for a crack down on "unsavory, individualistic, antisocialist behavior" among young people, according to the BBC. He intends to stop the spread of "dangerous poisons", such as foreign speech, hairstyles and clothes, especially from South Korean movies, K-dramas, and K-pop videos.
“To Kim Jong-un, the cultural invasion from South Korea has gone beyond a tolerable level,” Jiro Ishimaru, chief editor of Asia Press International, told The New York Times. “If this is left unchecked, he fears that his people might start considering the South an alternative Korea to replace the North.”
This marks his growing hostility toward South Korean pop culture, which was said to have “deeply moved” him three years ago. According to the North’s KCNA state media, the supreme leader said that his heart “swelled” when he and his wife watched the cultural diplomacy concert “Spring is Coming” in Pyongyang, 2018. The concert’s lineup consists of several K-pop stars, such as the beloved girl group Red Velvet and Girls’ Generation member Seohyun.
The Pyongyang concert in 2018 was the first South Korean musical event in North Korea in more than a decade. It was considered to be an important event in the 2018 “thaw” in North Korea-South Korea relations. Culture Minister Do Jong-whan said that Kim Jong-un even “showed much interest during the show and asked questions about the songs and lyrics,” Reuters reported.
However, the improving relations between the two countries did not last long. As North Korea cuts off communication ties with South Korea in 2020, the crackdown on foreign media intensifies. North Koreans who watch or possess South Korean entertainment will now face five to 15 years in labor camps. Those who smuggle it will face harsher punishments, including the death penalty. Those who “speak, write or sing in South Korean style” can even face up to two years of hard labor.
Now, the only way for North Koreans to enjoy South Korean entertainment is from smuggled flash drives from China.
“Young North Koreans think they owe nothing to Kim Jong-un,” Jung Gwang-il, a defector from North Korea, said to The New York Times. Jung runs a network that smuggles K-pop into the country. “He must reassert his ideological control on the young if he doesn’t want to lose the foundation for the future of his family’s dynastic rule,” he said.
