Kim Jong-un’s regime sent three teens to re-education camps to listen to K-pop, South Korean music

Three North Korean teenagers from Kujang, North Pyongan province, were recently sentenced to labor re-education for “anti-socialist behavior”, while their families were evicted from the county, according to local media.

“The Ministry of Social Security detained three 14-year-old students living in Kujang County. The students reportedly cut their hair like South Korean teenagers and sang South Korean songs. After their preliminary examination in early April, the authorities sent the teenagers to a labor camp for re-education. “, said an anonymous source quoted by the newspaper Daily NK.

The source assured that in March, a classmate – who was the son of a leader of inminban (popular unit) – surprised the three students to cut their hair like the idols of the K-pop (South Korean Folk Music), hemming his pants above the ankles and singing South Korean songs like Man by artist Na Hoon-a. The students were reported to the Ministry of State Security.

After the three teenagers were arrested by the Ministry of State Security, they were subjected to a preliminary examination and sent to a re-education camp for young people on April 3. During, the authorities expelled the parents of the students in Changsong County, North Pyongan Province, for not detecting antisocial behavior in your children and to provide an environment that encourages the continuation of this behavior.

County officials responded to the incident with a series of intensive lectures for educators and local residents. The lectures were entitled: “Let us remain on alert to unequivocally reject the influx of impure elements from the imperialists and enemy propaganda”The source told Daily NK.

The speakers claimed, according to the source, that “the devious imperialists are jealous of the fact that we (North Koreans) live better lives because we stand up for our socialist values, so they ruthlessly try to use their the capitalist punk media to manipulate our impressionable young people because they are still growing up“, And stressed that the people should be attentive to the influx of foreign culture in the country.

Authorities also issued a stern warning to attendees at the conferences. “Don’t expect non-adult students to receive a lighter punishment. If parents cannot control their children, young people will be sent for rehabilitation and they will expel their families as in the case of these three students ”.

The Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of Social Security stepped up random inspections of local residents’ homes after the arrest of the students. Efforts have also increased to bring locals back register old devices and any new electronic devices. Officials ordered an increase in the responsibilities and functions of the leaders of the inminbanos and their informants.

According to the Daily NK source, the State Security Department asked the students “What part of the K-pop songs did you like?” to the point of risking arrest. The teens replied that “the lyrics, especially the part in which the artist sang ‘live like a man and die like a man’, it touched their hearts ”. The source added that word of the conversation had spread throughout the community through families and would have sparked locals’ curiosity for South Korean music.

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