According to a Human Rights report published by South KoreaA 22-year-old man was publicly executed in North Korea for listening to K-pop songs.
According to the criteria of
Seoul, in its 2024 report on Human Rights in North Korea prepared by the Ministry of Unification of South Korea, in addition to this episode, collected 649 testimonies from North Korean defectors.
According to one of the anonymous testimonies, The young man from South Hwanghae province was publicly executed in 2022 for listening to 70 South Korean songs, watching three films and distributing them.
The leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, maintains the system of classification and social control inherited from his grandfather, the founder of the country Kim Il-sung.
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The report also details extensive efforts by North Korean authorities to control the flow of external information, with a specific focus on young people.
The ban on K-pop to protect citizens from the “evil influence” of Western culture was further tightened by a new law North Korea adopted in 2020, banning “reactionary ideology and culture.” One of Defectors, a woman in her 20s, said that “the speed at which South Korean culture influences North Korea is very fast. Young people follow and copy South Korean culture, and they really love everything South Korean.”
“After watching Korean dramas, many young people ask themselves, ‘Why do we have to live like this?’ …“I thought I would rather die than live in North Korea,” he said, according to The Guardian. “Of course, we can’t say anything bad against Kim Jong-un publicly, but among close friends, lovers or family, we do say those words,” he added.
North Korea has rejected criticism of the government’s gross violation of human rights, calling it part of a conspiracy to overthrow the leadership.
According to US-funded Radio Free Asia, the regime was cracking down on “capitalist” fashion and hairstyles, targeting tight jeans and T-shirts with foreign words on them, as well as dyed or long hair.
The two Koreas are still technically at war since an armistice ended the 1950-1953 Korean War, not a peace treaty.
North Korean propaganda shows a badge with the face of Kim Jong-un for the first time
North Korean propaganda showed for the first time today, Sunday, a badge with the face of leader Kim Jong-un, which seems to indicate that his figure is gaining weight within
from the country.
The pin could be seen placed next to the left lapel of the hundreds of members
of the Workers’ Party who participated in the second session
from the party’s plenary session held in Pyongyang on Saturday, according to photos published by the KCNA news agency and the Rodong newspaper on Monday.
Badges with the faces of the Kim family are worn by many North Koreans and are an example of the cult of personality advocated by the regime.
However, until now North Korean propaganda has never shown badges with Kim Jong-un’s face, only those with the faces of his father and grandfather, Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung, which have been produced in the country for decades.
Regime officials told South Korean media at the time that pins bearing the face of the third leader of the Kim dynasty began to be produced in 2012 – the year after his father’s death – although until now the Northern media had never shown them.
His public appearance seems to indicate that the regime is seeking to further strengthen the figure of Kim Jong-un in the country, at a time when Pyongyang has completely turned its back on dialogue with Seoul and Washington.
The party’s current plenum has attracted a lot of attention as it is believed that the meeting could discuss the recent strategic agreement signed with Russia, which includes a clause on mutual assistance in the event of a military attack.
The state media today limited itself to reporting that in the second session
of the plenary session – which is expected to conclude today – “reports and speeches” were made around the five points established for the agenda (which have not been made public) and Kim himself spoke about the achievements of the policies
of the single party during the first half of the year
Ana Maria Rodriguez Brazon – International Newsroom
*With information from El Universal of Mexico and EFE
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