KIM Jong-un has released a bizarre new propaganda-laced pop song – with a sinister hidden message, experts have warned.
Titled Friendly Father, the song heaps compliments on the North Korean dictator – calling him “warm-hearted like your mother” and “benevolent like your father”.
TikTokIn one of the opening shots from the propaganda laced music video Kim is seen hugging and kissing a child as the lyrics call him a ‘friendly father’[/caption]
TikTokThe song has been accused of hiding a sinister message through its portrayal of Kim as a loving parental figure calling for unity through the use of smiling children[/caption]
TikTokWell respected members of North Korean society are also singing along to the lyrics as the state looks for a unified nation[/caption]
The song is titled as ‘Friendly Father’ and heaps odd compliments on the dictator comparing him to a mother and a father to the people of North KoreaAP
Right from the intro, the song begins lauding North Korea’s Supreme Leader making direct comparisons to him being part of everyone’s families.
It starts by saying: ” Let’s sing about Kim Jong Un, our great leader.
“Let’s boast about Kim Jong Un, our friendly father.”
The idea of Kim being this father figure to the people of North Korea has been an image he and his parliament have tried to conjure up in recent years.
Kim is typically referred to as the “Great Successor” after taking over from his father Kim Jong Il in 2012.
But, experts now believe he is gunning for a more family friendly title like what his grandfather had.
North Korea’s first leader, Kim Il Sung, went by two nicknames – “father” and “the Great”.
In recent times, there has been a huge shift in the language and vocabulary used to describe the current kingpin.
As has been seen with the new song, North Korea is pushing the idea that Kim is a father to those he rules over.
The accompanying music video, reportedly made with help from Kim and his team themselves, is even more egotistical and obvious in the regime’s hopes.
It features a range of clips of the tyrant looking like a father figure as the lyrics describe him as exactly that.
In one instance, he is even holding a child in his arms, laughing and giving her a kiss on the cheek.
A second shot captures Kim being hounded by a group of young women as they jump all over him.
Alexandra Leonzini, a Cambridge University scholar who researches North Korean music, feels this new idealistic view of the Supreme Leader could signal a shift taking place in the country.
She says: “Songs are used to telegraph the direction the state is going in… to signpost important moments and important developments in politics.
“A song is almost like the newspaper in North Korea.”
North Korea has worryingly stepped up their threats towards “annihilating” their enemies including the US and mainly South Korea.
Kim labelled the south as the “principal enemy” and threatened all-out nuclear war over “even 0.001 mm” of territory invasion.
Kim’s sister – Kim Yo-Jong – pledged to unleash an “immediate military strike” on South Korea over the “slightest provocation”.
Songs are used to telegraph the direction the state is going in… a song is almost like the newspaper in North Korea
Alexandra Leonzini
The close ally of the dictator said North Korea wouldn’t hesitate to attack its “enemy” as tensions explode on the border.
By bolstering up his loving personality many feel it could be a chance for Kim to get away with whatever he likes as his loyal people follow his endlessly.
This idea of a united nation is backed up by another line claiming the citizens under his iron rule “all trust and follow him with all our hearts“.
Leonzini agreed saying the idea behind the song is to “motivate and to strive towards a common goal for the benefit of the nation”.
Throughout the two-minute music video, the entire range of residents in North Korea are shown from nurses to drivers and the young and the old.
This seemingly shows the country as all together following his lead as in almost all the clips Kim and those he meets all have beaming smiles.
CREATIVITY KILLERS
North Korea has a strict rule against allowing people to be creative, it has been claimed by defectors.
Often songs, art and film are used as propaganda pieces by the state to allow for ideological viewpoints to be secretly pumped across the country.
Leonzini said: “All artistic output in North Korea must serve the class education of citizens and more specifically educate them as to why they should feel a sense of gratitude, a sense of loyalty to the party.”
Keith Howard, an emeritus professor of musicology at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies said songs like Friendly Father are used to ingrain certain things into listener’s minds.
A trick that some say North Korea has been using for decades after they banned almost all external media from entering the country.
Meaning only things accepted by the government can be seen or heard by the 26million residents.
Howard said: “By the time the song has sort of been taken into the body, it’s become part of the person.
“So they know the lyrics so well, even if they’re just doing the actions, even if they’re just listening to it.
“A good ideological song does that – it needs to embed the message.”
TIKTOK SUCCESS
The new, relatively catchy, bop has even become a hit on TikTok and drawn peculiar comparisons to Swedish super band Abba despite the Korean lyrics and all-to-happy tone.
It has become the background music in videos that have millions of views and even seen thousands of US and European audiences tuning in to listen.
One viewer commented on the viral music video: “This is so awesomely creepy – North Korea propaganda is in a category of its own.”
As another was conned into dancing along to the song before realising what the lyrics were really saying.
They wrote: “I hear this not paying attention to the caption but i start smiling and bobbing my head ever so slightly and I had to yell at myself to stop.”
Tensions between South and North Korea
TENSIONS on the Korean Peninsula have recently risen to their highest point in years – with Kim accelerating his weapons testing and South strengthening their joint war drills with the US.
Hopes for reunification shut
In January, Kim Jong-un has scrapped any effort for reunification with Seoul.
The dictator shut down several government bodies tasked with promoting reconciliation with South Korea.
He was quoted saying: “We don’t want war but we have no intention of avoiding it.”
Kim also appeared to have blown up a major monument in North Korea’s capital that symbolised hope for unity.
The move is thought to have been a deliberate choice by the dictator, signalling his refusal to unite with his country’s “enemy”.
Kim ramps up weapon testing
From the start of 2024, North Korea has tested multiple types of missile systems.
In January, the North’s military fired a new intermediate-range, solid-fuel hypersonic missile – which Washington, Seoul and Tokyo condemned as a serious violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
A week later, North Korea tested its nuclear underwater attack drone which is reportedly capable of sparking a “radioactive tsunami”.
The US and its Asian allies have responded by strengthening their combined military exercises – which Kim calls rehearsals for invasion.
At the brink of war
The current South Korean government is led by president Yoon Suk Yeol, who shares hawkish view of North Korea compared to his predecessor.
He has increased efforts to collaborate with the US and Japan to combat the North’s aggressive moves in a bid to deter the war.
In turn, Kim threatened to “annihilate” Seoul if provoked and vowed to enhance his country’s ability to deliver a nuclear strike on the US and America’s allies in the Pacific.
Experts say that Kim is trying to stoke up anger by conducting more missile tests and possibly launching small-scale physical attacks on its neighbour to meddle with South Korea’ s elections this month
A third simple put: “I’m absolutely convinced Kim Jong Un has the biggest ego in the galaxy.”
North Korea is known for spreading propaganda within their country to keep everyone aligned with their leader’s views.
Earlier this year, his hellish regime was exposed as two teenage students were sent to the gulag for watching banned TV.
They face 12-years behind bars with hard labour for watching K-drama after being handcuffed and publicly embarrassed in a stadium full of students.
Reports suggest the clip, which was filmed, has been used across North Korea to educate younger citizens and scare them into not watching “decadent recordings”.
The video that’s been shared across the nation is known to feature a narrator repeating chilling state propaganda.
A voice says: “The rotten puppet regime’s culture has spread even to teenagers.
“They are just 16 years old, but they ruined their own future.”
TikTokWorkers were even pictured singing along to the pop song[/caption]
APKim Jong Un and his government have been pushing for the country to see him as a father figure for some time now, say experts[/caption]
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