r/worldnews • u/rdh2dmd • 4h ago
North Korea North Korea cracks down on teens' K-pop-inspired finger heart gesture
https://www.dailynk.com/english/north-korea-finger-heart-crackdown-teens/•
u/ChopperChange 4h ago
The youth league accused students of blindly copying something from others.
The irony...
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u/StatementCareful522 4h ago
hey NK, crack down on this finger gesture: 🖕
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4h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/YouSmellSumthin 3h ago
Lowest effort trolling I've seen in a while. Or you did it backwards of what you meant to. The latter would be my guess
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u/aarontgp 4h ago
Basically what we tried doing to censor culture but on steroids. Seriously, if hand gestures are an existential threat to the state, they might as well give up.
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u/rdh2dmd 3h ago edited 3h ago
It goes deeper than hand gestures. Knowing those hand gestures mean they know what's popular in S.Korean popular media.
There used to be a multi-year lag between what's popular in SK and what catches on in NK's underground following, but that lag time is getting shorter year after year, and more importantly, the NK younger gens are reportedly becoming more expressive when it comes to following SK trends, and even their dialects are becoming Seoul-like.
Basically think of a rural Texan starting to talk like a New Yorker.
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u/aarontgp 3h ago
It is clear NK is deeply afraid of the fact its cultural influence over its youth is rapidly waning.
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u/Starfall0 2h ago
You mean being raised in a poor shit hole with a fat spoiled rich kid for a leader that demands you lick his taint every 5 minutes or be sentenced to death might instill some kind of resentment to the system they were raised in?
Say it isn't so!
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u/MartianHideEgger 3h ago
Not that your overall statement is necessarily wrong, but the finger heart gesture wouldn’t be a great example of the lag decreasing. It’s been popular in kpop and among Koreans in general for over a decade now. It’s a bit surprising that it’s only now becoming an issue.
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u/Skritch_X 4h ago
Interesting to me that NK youth were exposed to enough KPop to mimic the gesture. I guess i assumed a higher level of insulation/isolation.
But i guess thinking about other dumb facts like them blurring out Blue Jeans, they are probably exposed more than i thought.
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u/rdh2dmd 4h ago edited 3h ago
South Korean pop culture is actually extremely pervasive in North Korea according to defectors. People listen to K-pop, watch daily news broadcasts, and binge K-dramas through smuggled USBs. They've been doing this since the early 2000s but the new generation of kids aren't even hiding it anymore. Yes, BTS is super hot among NK youth.
The 2024 film Escape dramatizes this phenomenon and it’s inspired by a real NK soldier who defected across the DMZ after secretly tuning into a SK drive-time radio show for years.
A huge hit over there was the 2009 drama IRIS. Despite being about South Korean agents targeting NK operatives, it developed a massive underground following. The show's OST "Don't Forget" was so universally loved in the North that Baek Z Young was permitted to sing it live in Pyongyang during the 2018 diplomatic cultural exchanges. But the N.Korean audience probably thought it was lame because they are much more up to date with popular culture.
This time, Kpop and dramas are doing something different to the young alpha generation and Kim is spooked by it. Some commentators say that's part of the reason why Kim is shutting out SK despite the South's return to a left-leaning president, and his open gestures.
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u/NotSoSalty 3h ago
I am beginning to wonder why the NK leadership doesn't just join with SK as rich families. It seems like a lot less work for a much greater benefit.
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u/rdh2dmd 3h ago
I mean, if they give up their power and join SK, they'd be investigated and put into jail for crimes against humanity, unless they come to an agreement on including a clause that they be untouched, in which case they'd also live like prisoners. I bet the Interpol would also want their hands on Kim and some of his family if NK democratized.
They have much more to gain by maintaining the status quo. Kim probably lives as frugally as any top 0.01% families in the capitalistic world, including the ones in US and Korea.
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u/NotSoSalty 3h ago
Oh no how could NK leadership get whatever they want including amnesty (it's kinda weird you didn't assume this, it's like level 0 stuff. assumed in the deal) in exchange for an entire country?
It's not about how they live, it's about what they have to do to continue living as they do. If they join the rest of the world, maintenance of status would be only continuing their wealth, which they have to do nothing to do. The status quo doesn't make sense to me. The steps required would take weeks, and some guarantee. Everyone wins. Why hasn't it happened already?
Surely I'm missing something, because easy solutions like this don't exist. I'm an idiot, it really couldn't just be that easy, right?
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u/PrrrromotionGiven1 11m ago
South Koreans these days mostly don't even want to annex North Korea even if they didn't have to make any compromises with Kim's govt to do it. It would be like the worst refugee crisis in modern times once there was free movement between the Koreas, almost everyone would head straight for the wealthy south. Also idk why you suddenly brought up this "in exchange for a whole country", it's a massive escalation from just random NK elites fleeing the country.
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u/drunky_crowette 3h ago
They would have to give up their power. They'd have to let the citizens see they could have had so much better for so long and that they suffered this entire time for nothing.
If I were in the citizens' shoes at a time like that I'd probably be demanding blood of the NK leadership
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u/NotSoSalty 2h ago
I'm demanding blood of the US leadership, and I can go fuck myself as far as the leadership is concerned. So fucking what? Problems could possibly maybe happen, problems that could be negotiated over, and handled, easily. Who cares?
Oh no my life as a peasant suddenly got 100x better, I'd better start asking questions that I don't want answers to. No, that comes like 10-20 years in the future when the next generation doesn't know horror anymore.
Oh no, SK won. Who cares if you're rich. Who cares what you think if you're not rich? I don't see the line of thought that prevents this.
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u/marsinfurs 1h ago
You don’t think people would be a least a little salty that Kim lived like a king while they and their family starved? Been a lot of cases in history that angry mobs don’t need a lot of reason to murder their oppressor if given the chance.
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u/PrrrromotionGiven1 15m ago
Risk of assassination and loss of status basically are the main factors I think. And NK wealth probably doesn't actually go that far once you're outside the country, you're still "poor" relative to elites of wealthy countries.
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u/lunes_azul 4h ago
They all know their way of life forced on them is bullshit. It’s just too dangerous to express it.
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u/deinterlacing 3h ago
This article is shit. It has no source. The source of this claim is simply "a Daily NK source "
So let's recap. A US funded South Korean news outlet that reports exclusively on their longtime common enemy.
Yeah it's propaganda
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u/rustyiron 3h ago
So you are saying that North Koreans are allowed to enjoy k-pop?
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u/deinterlacing 3h ago
Uh no? That's a brand new sentence you just typed. I said this article has no source and it's from a biased news outlet.
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u/seaningtime 1h ago
Officially you are given the death penalty for consuming k-pop, and they have executed teenagers for doing so
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u/Whirlpoolcircle56 4h ago
I wonder how much longer this government can last for, while the isolation the spread of information becomes harder to stop every year.
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u/bikecatpcje 2h ago
In a similar fashion a certain region in Uruguay where brazilian TV channels have signal they speak something closer to Portuguese instead of Spanish
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u/MaesterSten 1h ago
If you cant use your fingers in a responsible manner, then the state will confiscated them.
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u/Any-Signal8899 4h ago
The only finger movement that needs correction is Kim jong uns eating habits with his grubby little digits
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u/ChopperChange 4h ago
His sister will take over for him sooner or later but conditions won't improve for citizens of the country because they were both raised to be fascist psychopaths.
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u/exciting_one2005 4h ago
More like communist psychopaths (we gotta stop pretending dictatorship is a gift from the Right, authoritarian Left is a thing , not to say he is following textbook communism tho)
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u/Jalase 4h ago
Why do you believe “fascist” implies left or right?
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u/Flapjack_ 4h ago
Fascism is typically associated with far-right ultranationalist ideologies. Typically considered about as far right as you can get on the political spectrum.
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u/ChopperChange 3h ago
Fascism is typically associated with far-right ultranationalist ideologies
Correct. And North Korea is a great example of "ultranationalism"
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u/ChopperChange 4h ago
(we gotta stop pretending dictatorship is a gift from the Right, authoritarian Left is a thing , not to say he is following textbook communism tho)
Please explain like I'm 5 the definition of "communism" and how it applies to the people who live in North Korea.
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u/exciting_one2005 3h ago
look into their party's name, their symbol, their motto and stuff and also their history
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u/ChopperChange 3h ago
look into their party's name, their symbol, their motto and stuff and also their history
Can you just summarize it? How is North Korean culture "textbook communism" as you describe it?
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u/exciting_one2005 3h ago
I said it's not textbook communism
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u/ChopperChange 3h ago
I said it's not textbook communism
Because it's fascism, which right wing leaders are in love with.
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u/aarontgp 3h ago
It's better described as Juche. Totalitarian, and shutting out the outside world for maximum self-sufficiency (despite it failing to do so).
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u/exciting_one2005 3h ago
Lmao go visit the political compass once. Theres something called authoritarian Left as well. Dictatorship is enjoyed by Left and Right equally. Communism is an economic ideology. It doesn't specify how much individual liberty u need to provide to your citizens
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u/Unfair-Technology120 2h ago
That didn’t originate with kpop at all and even more so ridiculous is to call it the “Korean heart gesture”.
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u/AspectSpiritual9143 4h ago
i too think it is a stupid gesture since it is not inherently obvious. i prefer the one using both hands
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u/neroselene 4h ago
"The Great Leader has declared that there will be no whimsy or happiness within our nation" - North Korea