North Korea has recently introduced a sweeping new law which seeks to stamp out any kind of foreign influence – harshly punishing anyone caught with foreign films, clothing or even using slang.
According to the Law, anyone caught with large amounts of media from South Korea, the United States or Japan now faces the death penalty. Those caught watching face prison camp for 15 years. And it’s not just about what people watch. Recently, Mr Kim wrote a letter in state media calling on the country’s Youth League to crack down on “unsavoury, individualistic, anti-socialist behavior” among young people. He wants to stop foreign speech, hairstyles and clothes which he described as “dangerous poisons”.
The Daily NK, an online publication in Seoul with sources in North Korea, reported that three teenagers had been sent to a re-education camp for cutting their hair like K-pop idols and hemming their trousers above their ankles. The BBC cannot verify this account. All this is because Mr Kim is in a war that does not involve nuclear weapons or missiles. Analysts say he is trying to stop outside information reaching the people of North Korea as life in the country becomes increasingly difficult.
Millions of people are thought to be going hungry. Mr Kim wants to ensure they are still being fed the state’s carefully crafted propaganda, rather than gaining glimpses of life according to glitzy K-dramas set south of the border in Seoul, one of Asia’s richest cities. The country has been more cut off from the outside world than ever before after sealing its border last year in response to the pandemic. Vital supplies and trade from neighbouring China almost ground to a halt. Although some supplies are beginning to get through, imports are still limited.
This self imposed isolation has exacerbated an already failing economy where money is funnelled into the regime’s nuclear ambitions. Earlier this year Mr Kim himself admitted that his people were facing “the worst-ever situation which we have to overcome”. The Daily NK was the first to get hold of a copy of the law.
“It states that if a worker is caught, the head of the factory can be punished, and if a child is problematic, parents can also be punished. The system of mutual monitoring encouraged by the North Korean regime is aggressively reflected in this law,” Editor-in-Chief Lee Sang Yong told the BBC. He says this is intended to “shatter” any dreams or fascination the younger generation may have about the South. “In other words, the regime concluded that a sense of resistance could form if cultures from other countries were introduced,” he said. [BBC]
