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

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

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

The article on North Korea’s Arirang Meari website stated that K-pop artists were “forced into incredibly unfair contracts from an early age, held in their training and treated like slaves after being stolen from their bodies, minds and souls by heads. of addicts and corrupt art-related conglomerates. “

The K-pop industry is notoriously tiring and difficult to break into, but the North Korean article did not include any evidence of its claims. It had only several paragraphs and quoted “reports” in other media.

North Korea has long been accused of widespread human rights abuses, including the subjection of political prisoners to forced labor and conditions analogous to slavery, according to a 2014 historic UN report.

The article was probably part of an effort by North Korean propagandists to crack down on foreign media. While Pyongyang’s strict censorship apparatus severely restricts films, music, television, newspapers and books that its citizens can consume, technology has made it easier to smuggle content from abroad, especially on flash drives.

Deserters say that average North Koreans caught consuming foreign content, especially from South Korea and the United States, often face severe punishment. Historically, these laws have not prevented 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 central planning as a way to spur growth, which he defined as his top long-term priority for the regime at an important political meeting earlier this year. year. Some experts believe that the renewed emphasis on government control extends to propaganda efforts and the consumption of foreign content.

Although the Kim regime has suppressed people who have been watching or reading foreign material for a long time, the North Korean legislature passed a new law in December requiring citizens and organizations to avoid “spreading anti-socialist ideology” – in practice , which generally means any content that has not been approved by government censors.

Kim in February also suggested that greater controls over social content may be coming. He called for “a more intensified struggle against anti-socialist and non-socialist practices than ever before.”

Musical divergence in 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 divided into two political entities after World War II.

K-pop has become a multi-billion dollar industry with worldwide recognition. South Korea even spread K-pop across the border as part of its propaganda efforts in previous years, when relations between the two Koreas were frozen.

Music in North Korea, in turn, is an important part of everyday life and serves as a key propaganda tool, celebrating the ruling Kim family and its fight against imperial aggression.

North Korea’s monopoly on creative expression makes the state’s songs – and therefore its approved messages – exceptionally widespread.

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

Oscar Holland of CNN contributed to this report.

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