Kim Jong Un says K-pop is a 'vicious cancer' that has been corrupting North Korean youths

Amid increasing cultural influence from South Korea, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is reportedly imposing harsher penalties on citizens caught listening to “perverse” K-pop music. According to New York Times, the secretive anti-K-pop campaign came to light through internal documents smuggled out of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) by the Seoul-based news source Daily NK. According to the documents, Kim dubbed the southern cultural imports a “vicious cancer” that has been corrupting North Korean youths’ attire, hairstyles, speeches, and behaviours. 

Back in December, Kim had reportedly introduced new laws stipulating that anyone caught watching or possessing South Korean content could be sentenced to up to 15 years of hard labour. The previous maximum punishment for fans of popular acts such as BTS was five years. However, now, K-pop smugglers could reportedly face execution while those caught singing, speaking or writing in a “south Korean style” could be sentenced to two years at a work camp.

In order to eradicate the “perverse” K-pop phenomenon, North Korean officials have been reportedly ordered to search computers, text messages and notebooks for South Korean vernacular. People caught mimicking the “puppet accent” could also be banished from cities, as per the documents. It is worth mentioning that Kim Jong Un recently also outlawed mullets and skinny jeans in an attempt to cut off “decadent” Western-style fashion trends.

S Korea’s ban on floating leaflets 

Meanwhile, the South has formally passed a bill banning civilians from floating anti-North Korea leaflets across the border. Under the legislation, any individual caught flying leaflets, any other auxiliary object or money towards the North without the government's permission would be subjected to a minimum of three years in prison or slapped with a fine of 30 million won, as per reports. Additionally, any individual found placing large billboards in the border areas or broadcasting messages through loudspeakers would also be charged under the same legislation.

It’s a law aimed at joining hands with Kim Jong Un and leaving North Korean residents “enslaved for good," conservative opposition lawmaker Tae Yongho said during a 10-hour speech. It comes six months after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un's sister lambasted what she called South Korea’s inability to halt civilian leafleting and demanded it bans the activity. She even called North Korean defectors involved in the leafleting campaign "human scum" and "mongrel dogs". South Korea responded by promising an anti-leaflet law. 

(Image: AP)