Keypoints:
- Reportedly, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has termed the Korean pop music as ‘vicious cancer’, corrupting the nation’s youth and their culture.
- The New York Times has reported that Kim Jong Un said that the music and its influence harms the ‘attire, hairstyles, speeches, behaviors’ of North Koreans and that it could also make North Korea ‘crumble like a damp wall’.
In recent months, Kim Jong Un and the North Korean state has been rallying against South Korean pop culture including movies, K-dramas and K-pop videos. This war against K-pop comes years after the North Korean leader was said to be ‘deeply moved’ following the performance of South Korean artists.
According to The New York Times, the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reportedly called K-pop, a music genre originating in South Korea, a “vicious cancer” corrupting the country’s youth. NY Times has also reported that Kim Jong Un said that the music and its influence harms the ‘attire, hairstyles, speeches, behaviors’ of North Koreans and that it could also make North Korea ‘crumble like a damp wall’.
Report said that Kim Jong Un’s current dislike comes years after the former had attended performances by the artists from South Korea and has been ‘deeply moved’ by it. In 2018, the North Korean state news agency KCNA had reported that the artists from South Korea including members of bands such as Red Velvet and Cho Yong Pil had visited the North and performed in Pyongyang. Kim was the first North Korean leader to attend a show by south entertainers.
Kim Jong Un, in the recent months, had launched a crackdown on South Korean pop culture including their movies, K-dramas and K-pop videos. In this, the North Korean authorities have also outlawed ‘non-socialist’ hairstyles such as the spike and mullet along with dyed hair. According to the new laws, men and women can only sport one of the 215 other hairstyles authorised.
The provincial Youth League has issued an order on the hairstyle it deems proper to sport. Hairstyles such as mullets and spikes have been considered ‘anti-social’. Ripped or skinny jeans, T-shirts sporting slogans and nose and lip piercings have also been banned.
