picture courtesy: livemint.com
According to a report by the New York Times, Kim Jong, North Korean leader has declared a cultural war against South Korean music and movies (the K-dramas and K-pop videos). He wants to stop the spread to his citizens through a secretive anti-K-pop campaign.
He firmly believes that the South Korean culture is corrupting ‘attire, hairstyles, speeches, behaviour’ of the young generation of North Korea. He reportedly described K-pop music as a “vicious cancer.”
The NYT report cited a South Korea- based news source, called Daily NK. They first learned about this culture war from leaked internal documents from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Kim Jong also introduced a number of new laws increasing the level of punishment for owning or watching South Korean entertainment in December, 2020.
A person can be charged up to 15 years of jail in hard labour camps if he or her watches a South Korean drama or video or listen to K-pop music.
The Kim family dynasty has been the rulers of North Korea for more than 70 years.
The leader now worries that the South Korean entertainment has been affecting his youth and he plans on imposing worse punishments for those found guilty of smuggling such content, including the death penalty.