North Korea’s Kim Jong Un has described K-pop, along with Hollywood movies and music smuggled from South Korea, as a “vicious virus’ that is infecting the minds of his people in the first major address on culture since he took power. North Korea’s K-Pop ban is a response to the growing threat from South Korean soft power in the region. The North Korean regime sees U.S. news stations as a direct threat to its existence, so it’s making cultural efforts to sway public opinion in its favor. Long shunned by most of the outside world and out of reach for many North Koreans, South Korean culture, including K-pop music, soap operas, and even video games, has long been coveted by citizens in the North as a taste of life in its wealthier neighbor.

As a result, the leader of the country has been fed up and has called it cancer. In a panicked attempt to reassert control, Kim Jong-Un has ordered his government to stamp out the cultural invasion. In recent months, hardly a day has gone by without Kim or state media railing against “anti-socialist and nonsocialist” influences spreading in his country, especially South Korean movies, K-dramas, and K-pop

The government has now ordered some serious punishments who are found following these things. Those who dare to speak outside of the Beijing accent in China may be forced to move out of their city. It could be a matter of life or death. The documents even have a blaring order. The people living there have started taking it seriously and now they feel that these things will no longer be there in the country.

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