The regime in Pyongyang has released a new song praising the country’s leader.
Sunday 5 May at 15:29
A propaganda song from North Korea praising the country’s dictator Kim Jong-un has surprisingly become a hit on TikTok.
According to The Telegraph newspaper, people all over the world show that they listen to the pop song “Friendly Father”.
Users have even created remixes of the song, posting new versions on TikTok.
The song was released by the regime in April, and is the latest in a series of pop songs released by the authoritarian regime over the past 50 years.
– The song has stuck in my brain, writes a TikTok user under one of the videos.
– When will the song be on Spotify, writes another.
People recognize the song musically
The Telegraph has spoken to a North Korea analyst, who works at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, South Korea. He says songs from North Korea have often been ridiculed if they go viral.
– This is one of the first, if not the only, times I’ve heard of a North Korean song going viral, where people from different parts of the world express their appreciation for it, musically, says Peter Moody.
A different life and a different country
Korea was occupied by Japan from 1910 to 1945. After the Japanese occupiers were driven out, the country was divided into two. North Korea, which was supported by, among others, the Soviet Union at the time, and South Korea, which was supported by the United States.
Since then, the countries have been like two polar opposites. While South Korea has become one of the world’s largest economies, North Korea is a very poor country.
The country has strict sanctions against it. They do not trade with Western countries and there is no cooperation with Western countries either.
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un has been the country’s leader since the death of his father. The country is a dictatorship and the people there live lives that are completely different from most places in the world.
The country has several rules the citizens must follow. If not, they could face severe punishments or even be killed.
