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South Korea's government has banned a new North Korean propaganda video on national security grounds. The video itself isn't surprising. It features a song that praises the North's leader, Kim Jong Un. What is surprising is that it went viral on TikTok. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Seoul.
(SOUNDBITE OF MORANBONG BAND SONG, "FRIENDLY FATHER")
ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: The nearly four-minute-long video first appeared on North Korean state television last month. Medal-bedecked veterans, beaming children, hazmat-suited ambulance crews, factory workers, athletes, musicians, soldiers, sailors and airmen jump for joy, pump their fists and wave flags as they sing the praises of Kim Jong Un. The tune is called "Dear Father" (ph).
(SOUNDBITE OF MORANBONG BAND SONG, "FRIENDLY FATHER")
KUHN: The over-the-top enthusiasm is by no means unusual in North Korean propaganda, but...
HA SEUNGHEE: (Through interpreter) What's unique is that there is a scene of North Korean people singing along and giving the thumbs-up gesture in a nonverbal expression of admiration for their leader.
KUHN: Ha Seunghee, an expert on North Korean media and propaganda at Dongguk University in Seoul, says North Koreans have not been seen before publicly giving their leader the thumbs up.
HA: (Through interpreter) This staging of unadulterated emotional expression emphasises an image of freedom and openness.
KUHN: The other thing that's different is the video went viral. Yee Jisun, an expert on North Korean media and propaganda at the Korean Institute for National Unification, explains.
YEE JISUN: (Through interpreter) It was first spread intentionally by pro-North Korean users. Then it clicked with TikTokers who coincidentally landed on the song, saw it as a kind of K-pop and found it fun.
KUHN: K-pop is generally associated with South Korea, not the North, but that didn't matter to TikTok users, who used the music to make their own dance videos, racking up millions of views.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FRIENDLY FATHER")
MORANBONG BAND: (Singing in Korean).
KUHN: Kim Jong Un has been trying for years to give his country's stiff and stuffy propaganda a makeover, partly to minimize the influence of South Korean information that is banned but smuggled into the North. But Yee Jisun says this is a special time for Kim.
YEE: (Through interpreter) As Kim Jong Un thinks about how North Korean history will write about him, this year, the year he turns 40, is the optimal starting point to push ahead with his own style of rule.
KUHN: In recent years, North Korea has experimented with social media. On Twitter and YouTube, young North Korean video bloggers purported to offer unbiased news about North Koreans free and happy lives. YouTube said it shut down these accounts to comply with U.S. sanctions on North Korea. Again, Yee Jisun.
YEE: (Through interpreter) All activities on online platforms by what appear to be official North Korean accounts have been suspended. But TikTok is an exception.
KUHN: TikTok is owned by the Chinese tech company ByteDance. China is North Korea's main ally. Congress has passed a law forcing ByteDance to sell TikTok or be banned in the U.S.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FRIENDLY FATHER")
MORANBONG BAND: (Singing in Korean).
KUHN: Despite South Korea's ban, as of Thursday, the Dear Father videos were still accessible in South Korea on TikTok and YouTube. The ban has its critics. They argued that the music video poses no security threat and that censorship is not how a democracy should respond to authoritarian propaganda. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Seoul.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FRIENDLY FATHER")
MORANBONG BAND: (Singing in Korean). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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