A South Korean report says a 22-year-old North Korean man was executed two years ago for listening to and sharing K-pop music, while consumption of South Korean and Western cultural content is strictly muzzled in the country.
South Korea accuses North Korea of firing squad man for listening to K-pop in 2022. A new report based on testimonies from 649 North Korean refugees says a 22-year-old North Korean man was publicly executed for listening to and sharing K-pop music, according to the British newspaper. The Guardian.
Since 2020, Kim Jong-un has been waging open war against K-pop, and this new report highlights the North Korean dictator’s desperate efforts to try to stifle the success of this cultural and musical trend that originated in South Korea. The leader calls this musical style a “vicious cancer” that corrupts the appearance and attitude of young people.
In this human rights document published Thursday June 27 by the South Korean Ministry of Unification, a North Korean refugee anonymously recounts that a young agricultural worker from South Hwanghae province (in the southwest of North Korea) was publicly executed for listening to 70 songs, watching and sharing three South Korean music films to 7 other people.
Kim Jong-un at war against South Korean “cultural invasion”
A sentence which falls under a law promulgated in 2020 aimed at stemming “cultural invasion”: it provides for between 5 and 15 years in a labor camp, for those who watch or own South Korean entertainment, series, movies, music. And therefore even the death penalty for those who import such content.
The report highlights other practices considered “reactionary” that are harshly repressed in the country: the wearing of white dresses and sunglasses by the bride and groom, the consumption of alcohol in wine glasses at weddings which are considered South Korean customs. He also claims that North Koreans’ cell phones are regularly inspected by authorities to check the spelling of contact names, expressions and vocabulary used.
Relations between the two Koreas are going through one of the most difficult times in years. In recent weeks, Pyongyang has sent more than a thousand balloons weighted with waste such as cigarette butts, toilet paper and animal excrement to its southern neighbor. For North Korea, it is a response to the dissemination of propaganda, notably by leaflets or USB sticks, against the North Korean regime by South Korean activists.
South Korea announced on June 9 that it was resuming its loudspeaker propaganda campaigns along the border, which date back to the Korean War (1950-53). North Korea has also used the practice since the 1960s.
Jeanne Bulant Journalist BFMTV
