2024-01-19 14:51:00
Two 16-year-old teenagers stood side by side on the stage of an outdoor stadium in North Korea. Soon their hands were handcuffed. This was right following he was sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. The crime was watching Korean dramas. Hundreds of students in school uniform lined up behind the stage to watch the public trial. This is a video that the British BBC reported on the 18th provided by a North Korean defector group. This video, produced by North Korea in 2022 for ideological education purposes, shows that ‘the culture of the rotten puppet regime has spread to teenagers. The narration said, “These people who are only 16 years old have ruined their own future.”
▷At the end of 2020, North Korea promulgated a terrifying law called the Act on Rejecting Reactionary Ideology and Culture. The punishment for viewing or possessing South Korean videos was strengthened from 5 years to 15 years. Anyone who spreads it will be put to death. Minors are no exception. There was a saying going around among North Korean defectors: “If you get caught watching an American drama, you can bribe your way out, but if you get caught watching a Korean drama, you’ll be shot.”
▷North Korea is especially wary of the current situation where the MZ generation is immersed in K content. North Korea is no different in that the MZ generation challenges the established order. They are free from the debt consciousness of ‘making a living because of the party’. Growing up during a long period of famine, I never enjoyed much of the benefits of the Kim Baekdu lineage. Many of the household goods come from the Chinese black market. Having grown up watching South Korean videos mixed in, propaganda does not work easily. When calling their lovers, they often use nicknames such as ‘oppa’, ‘honey’, or ‘boyfriend’ instead of ‘comrade’. I wonder if North Korea’s decision to crack down on South Korea’s speaking style is so unsettling.
▷North Korea has not always been hostile to K-content. When a South Korean art troupe performed in Pyongyang in 2018, the girl group Red Velvet received a warm reception. At the time, Chairman Kim Jong-un said, “There was a lot of interest in whether I would come to see Red Velvet, and I was originally going to come the day following tomorrow, but I adjusted my schedule and came today. “Thank you for giving this gift to the citizens of Pyongyang.” However, the following year, as the Hanoi meeting with former U.S. President Donald Trump broke down and the economy began to deteriorate, North Korea tightened its cultural barrier.
▷“Korean dramas are medicine that allows us to forget the difficult reality for a moment,” North Korean defectors say. Although it is difficult to have great hopes, K-content is a temptation that is difficult to resist for North Korean youth who cannot give up small fun and curiosity regarding the world. Unless these basic needs are met, no matter how severe the punishment, the effect will not last long. North Korea’s increasingly ruthless internal crackdown is nothing short of a confession that it fears South Korea’s ‘cultural invasion’. An American think tank suggested sending a USB containing ‘Squid Game’ or a BTS music video to Pyongyang every time North Korea fires a missile. Although it is unlikely to be realized immediately, the effect of punishing North Korea’s provocations seems certain.
Editorial Writer Shin Gwang-young [email protected]
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