South Korean K-pop: North Korea blasts off industry as ‘slavish exploitation’ amid Kim Jong-un crackdown on foreign media

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An article published by a North Korean propaganda website over the weekend accused K-pop record labels of the “slave-like exploitation” of hugely successful bands like BTS and Blackpink.

The piece at North Korea’s Arirang Meari site claimed that K-pop performers were “ bound by incredibly unfair contracts from a young age, held during their training, and treated like slaves after being robbed of their body, mind and spirit by the heads of evil and corrupt art-related conglomerates. “

The K-pop industry is notoriously grueling and difficult to break into, but the North Korean article contained no evidence of his allegations. It was only a few paragraphs long and “reports” were quoted in other media.

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

The piece was likely part of an attempt by North Korean propagandists to crack down on the foreign media. While Pyongyang’s strict censorship apparatus severely limits the movies, music, television, newspapers and books that citizens can consume, the technology has made it easier to smuggle in content from abroad, especially on USB sticks.

Defectors say average North Koreans caught consuming foreign content, especially from South Korea and the United States, often face severe penalties. Such laws have not historically deterred people from doing so, but the situation can change.

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

While Kim’s regime has long cracked down on people viewing or reading foreign material, the North Korean rubber-stamped legislature passed a new law in December requiring civilians and organizations to prevent the “spread of anti-socialist ideology” – in practice, that usually means any content that has not been approved by government censorship.

Kim also suggested in February that there could be more control over societal content. He called for a “more intensive fight 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 split into two political entities after World War II.

K-pop has become a multi-billion dollar industry with worldwide recognition. South Korea has even shot 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 everyday life, serving as an important propaganda tool to immortalize the ruling Kim family and its struggle against imperial aggression.

North Korea’s monopoly on creative expression makes the songs of the state – and thus their approved messages – uniquely pervasive.

“There is no evidence that people create their own music outside of what is centrally 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 performances that would have been allowed outside of the permissible circumstances.

CNN’s Oscar Holland contributed to this report.

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