Mick Hartley

More on North Korean efforts to purge their culture of any trace of South Korean influence, from the Daily NK:

North Korean military authorities have recently railed against the use of South Korean expressions, strongly encouraging young soldiers to use the so-called “Pyongyang cultural language.” 

In an educational article entitled “National Language” that ran in a copy of the July issue of “Soldier’s Life” (a magazine published by the General Political Bureau) recently obtained by Daily NK, the military authorities stressed that “among the symbols that demonstrate the dignity and independence of our Fatherland is our national language, about which we can be highly proud of before the world.”

“The Great Leaders [Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il] made the language of the revolutionary capital Pyongyang the national standard, working to evolve a transition in the national language,” said the article. “A fundamental transition took place when foreign borrowings and other uncultured factors were purged.”

“Pyongyang cultural language” refers to North Korea’s standard language, used since the 1960s based on a “teaching” from late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung. North Korea claims the language integrates the “unique character and excellence of the national language and represents the original form of the modern, sophisticated Korean language.”

That is to say, the article basically stresses that soldiers should use the “Pyongyang cultural language” as part of their daily lives.

Lecturers tasked with politically educating soldiers have gone even further.

According to the source, lecturers such as unit propaganda officers and political guidance officers lamented that newly recruited soldiers who have yet to “shed social corruption” are spending their downtime singing pop songs using “old, rotten singing styles from South Korea.” They warned this was corrupting the “revolutionary spirit of the military” and represented “an act benefiting the enemy.”

This criticism lines up with the “anti-reactionary thought law” enacted late last year, which bans the use of South Korean speech and singing styles (punishable by up to two years in a labor or reeducation camp). The warnings also suggest that the authorities intend to eradicate the spread of South Korean pop culture….

North Korean military authorities have recently railed against the use of South Korean expressions, strongly encouraging young soldiers to use the so-called “Pyongyang cultural language.” 

In an educational article entitled “National Language” that ran in a copy of the July issue of “Soldier’s Life” (a magazine published by the General Political Bureau) recently obtained by Daily NK, the military authorities stressed that “among the symbols that demonstrate the dignity and independence of our Fatherland is our national language, about which we can be highly proud of before the world.”

“The Great Leaders [Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il] made the language of the revolutionary capital Pyongyang the national standard, working to evolve a transition in the national language,” said the article. “A fundamental transition took place when foreign borrowings and other uncultured factors were purged.”

“Pyongyang cultural language” refers to North Korea’s standard language, used since the 1960s based on a “teaching” from late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung. North Korea claims the language integrates the “unique character and excellence of the national language and represents the original form of the modern, sophisticated Korean language.”

That is to say, the article basically stresses that soldiers should use the “Pyongyang cultural language” as part of their daily lives.

Lecturers tasked with politically educating soldiers have gone even further.

According to the source, lecturers such as unit propaganda officers and political guidance officers lamented that newly recruited soldiers who have yet to “shed social corruption” are spending their downtime singing pop songs using “old, rotten singing styles from South Korea.” They warned this was corrupting the “revolutionary spirit of the military” and represented “an act benefiting the enemy.”

This criticism lines up with the “anti-reactionary thought law” enacted late last year, which bans the use of South Korean speech and singing styles (punishable by up to two years in a labor or reeducation camp). The warnings also suggest that the authorities intend to eradicate the spread of South Korean pop culture.

This nationalist obsession with purity has more in common with fascism than with the Stalinism that's usually invoked to characterise North Korea. It's the same obsession that's driven the regime's paranoid reaction to the coronavirus: a legitimate concern carried to ridiculous extremes as all borders are closed, while those showing any symptoms are treated as traitors to the Korean people, and left to die. Perhaps it'll be the same obsession that finally drives the whole ghastly Kim dynasty over the edge of the cliff.