- North Korean man was executed for listening to K-pop, report says
North Korea has publicly executed a 22-year-old man for listening to and sharing K-pop as part of Pyongyang’s ruthless crackdown on Western culture, according to a human rights report released by South Korea.
A testimony in the report talks about how a young man from South Hwanghae Province was publicly executed in 2022 after listening to 70 South Korean songs, watching three films and distributing them, an act of defiance of the laws of the totalitarian dictatorship against Western culture.
He reportwhich was released yesterday by South Korea’s Unification Ministry, also detailed North Korea’s extensive efforts to control the flow of external information as it falls under the umbrella of non-socialist culture.
The document compiles testimonies from nearly 650 North Korean defectors.
The K-pop ban is part of a ruthless campaign to protect North Koreans from the “evil” influence of the West that began under former leader Kim Jong-il and intensified under the rule of his son Kim Jong-un.
A South Korean human rights report on North Korea reveals how a man in his 20s was publicly executed after listening to South Korean pop music. This is part of an offensive by the authoritarian regime against Western influences.
Despite North Korea’s harsh measures, the influence of South Korean and Western culture in general is an unstoppable force.
According to the study funded by the US government. 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.
Other examples of Western practices for which North Koreans can be punished include brides wearing white dresses, women wearing shorts, wearing sunglasses and drinking alcohol from wine glasses, customs that are considered typical of South Korea.
Experts say South Korean popular culture seeping into the North could pose a threat to its extremist ideology.
But despite North Korea’s harsh measures, the influence of South Korean and Western culture in general is an unstoppable force.
38 North, A website dedicated to providing analysis on North Korea said its citizens increasingly have more options than ever for consuming outside information and media.
While they used to be limited to modified radios and televisions, they can obtain movies on DVDs and USBs and also access them through computers and smartphones, prompting government officials to improve their control methods.
A North Korean defector said that “the speed with which South Korean culture influences North Korea is very fast.” “Young people follow and copy South Korean culture and really love everything South Korean,” he reports. The Guardian.
In recent weeks, North Korea has released hundreds of balloons filled with feces and garbage over South Korea in retaliation for propaganda leaflets spread by the communist regime.
North Korean defectors are known to have sent balloons to the north containing anti-regime pamphlets, and have also sent USB flash drives with Korean pop music and videos, which are banned in North Korea.
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