“Wipe out the Korean Wave”: Prison Sentences and Family Banishments follow Kim Jong-un’s Direct Orders to Eliminate S. Korean Cultural Influence (2)

◆”Hallyu" is a crime against the state

In response to this statement by Kim Jong-un, the Workers’ Party Organization and Guidance Department prepared a countermeasure plan which was approved by Kim Jong-un and issued as a guideline to local organizations across the country.

The target of the crackdown is the youth. Through the Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il Youth League (Youth League), they have been informed that the "Hallyu" pollution among young people will be strictly dealt with. The Youth League is a youth organization under the Workers' Party and is composed of non-party members from the first year of upper secondary school (middle school is a six-year system) to just under 40 years of age. They include junior high school students, university students, workers, and unmarried women.

“If there is even the slightest sign of a different element in our language, we will not tolerate it, but will definitely expose and criticize it in organizational ideological struggles and in general meetings of employees, residents, and students.”

“We will make it clear to our allies that the phenomenon of speaking in the language of the puppets and sending text messages will be labeled as a crime of reactionary ideological and cultural dissemination, an anti-national, anti-socialist crime.”

◆ Monitoring people returning from abroad and excluding them from higher education and military enlistment

“In the Youth League organizations, we will seize anyone who shows signs of imitating unusual speech and those who have been to other countries for study abroad, practical training, scientific research, for labour dispatch, etc., and take thorough measures to provide ideological education for these people, never overlooking the slightest instance of using puppet words and developing a strong organizational struggle to crush them at the first stage.

The idea is to monitor those who have returned from China and other foreign countries and provide them with ideological education to prevent the spread of the "Korean Wave" in the country.

“The Youth League will further strengthen its control over university students in cooperation with educational institutions, strictly control students in the general education sector (up to junior high school) not to carry cell phones as required by regulations, and take precise guidance and measures on youth students' personal belongings such as computers, cell phones, music notebooks, study books, etc., so that no puppet words can be used on them.”

This means that junior high school students should not be allowed to have cell phones, and that young people should be strictly checked to make sure that they do not have any Korean Wave-related materials in their possession.

“Youth League organizations and educational institutions that are tainted by the puppet culture will be unconditionally excluded from enlistment in the People’s Army, recommendations for advanced schools, and award programs…”

There is also a strict measure to exclude young people who have been influenced by the Korean Wave from joining the military and going into higher education.The military service for men is compulsory (13 years in 2020), and there are many people who try to avoid it because of the poor working environment. However, military service is the essential career to enter society. In addition, if you are not allowed to join the military, you will not be able to join the Workers' Party or be placed in a job with good working conditions. Furthermore, if you are unable to pursue higher education, you will inevitably become a failure in North Korean society.

Next Page: ◆Public trials and expulsion from the city...