South Korea K-pop: North Korea denounces industry as ‘slave exploitation’ amid Kim Jong Un’s crackdown on foreign media

by



[ad_1]

Over the weekend, an article published by a North Korean propaganda site accused K-pop record companies of engaging in “slave exploitation” of successful bands like BTS and Blackpink.

The article on North Korean site Arirang Meari claimed that K-pop artists were “bound by incredibly unfair contracts from a young age, held in their training and treated like slaves after being stolen from their bodies,” of their minds and souls by the leaders of vicious and corrupt art-related conglomerates. “

The K-pop industry is notoriously trying and difficult to penetrate, but the North Korean article contains no evidence for its claims. It was just several long paragraphs and quoted “reports” in other media.

North Korea has long been accused of large-scale human rights abuses, including subjecting political prisoners to forced labor and slavery-like conditions, according to a landmark 2014 UN report.

The play was likely part of a push by North Korean propagandists to crack down on foreign media. While Pyongyang’s strict censorship apparatus severely restricts the movies, music, television, newspapers, and books its citizens can consume, technology has made it easier to smuggle content from overseas, especially to USB sticks.

Counterfeiters claim that average North Koreans caught consuming foreign content, especially from South Korea and the United States, are often severely punished. Historically, these laws have not deterred people from doing so, but the situation may be changing.

After years of poor economic performance, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to be doubling down on his central planning to spur growth, which he described as his top long-term priority for the regime at an important political meeting in beginning of this year. Some experts believe that the renewed emphasis on government control extends to propaganda efforts and the consumption of foreign content.

Although Kim’s regime has long cracked down on people who view or read foreign material, the North Korean legislature passed a new law in December requiring citizens and organizations to prevent the “spread of anti-socialist ideology. “- in practice, this refers to any content that has not been approved by government censors.

Kim in February also suggested that greater checks on societal content may be ahead. He called for a “more intensified struggle against anti-socialist and non-socialist practices than ever before”.

Musical Divergence on the Korean Peninsula

Despite centuries of shared culture, music in communist North Korea and capitalist South Korea has evolved very differently since the peninsula was split into two political entities after World War II.

K-pop has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry recognized around the world. South Korea even blew up K-pop across the border as part of its propaganda efforts in previous years, when relations between the two Koreas were on ice.

Music in North Korea, meanwhile, is an important part of daily life and serves as a key propaganda tool, extolling the ruling Kim family and their struggle against imperial aggression.

North Korea’s monopoly on creative expression makes state songs – and therefore their endorsed messages – ubiquitous.

“There is no evidence that people create their own music outside of what is centrally authorized,” North Korean ethnomusicologist and music expert Keith Howard said in an interview last year. “The only record company is state owned, and no performance would be allowed outside of what is permitted.

CNN’s Oscar Holland contributed to this report.

[ad_2]

Source link