South Korean boy band NCT DREAM perform on stage during the 9th Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards in 2020
Credit: Chung Sung-Jun /Getty Images AsiaPac
South Korean K-pop has been accused of engaging in "slave-like exploitation" in a article published by a North Korean propaganda website.
The popular music genre has become a global phenomenon in the last few years. Now it seems it has also become a point of rivalry between the two neighbours.
State-run website Arirang Meari ran a story arguing that K-pop stars were “treated as slaves robbed of their body, mind and soul by the heads of vicious and corrupt art-related conglomerates”.
The artists are "bound to unbelievably unfair contracts from an early age”, it added.
K-pop girl group Momoland
Credit: Lee Jin-man /AP
K-pop is infamous for being hard to break into and stars have in the past revealed a darker side to the highly commercial industry.
Across South Korea, there are hundreds of ‘K-pop colleges’ dedicated to helping young girls get a contract at a major record label.
For those who make it, the rewards are considerable. BTS, the most famous K-pop band, had one of the highest grossing tours of 2019, earning nearly $200m dollars and are sometimes called the Beatles of the 21st century.
Members of K-pop boy band BTS pose for photographs that mimic the famous Abbey Road album cover by The Beatles
Credit: Heo Ran /REUTERS
According to experts, leader Kim Jong-un is currently looking to bring in stricter rules against the consumption of foreign material.
Pyongyang already imposes an extreme censorship of music and television, but technological improvements have widened access to the outside world — including to K-pop.
The regime passed new legislation in December instructing people to prevent the "spread of the anti-socialist ideology", and in February, it demanded a more “intensified” fight against “anti-socialist and non-socialist practices than ever before”.
North Korea’s accusations of K-pop exploitation came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday criticised Pyongyang for committing "systematic and widespread abuses" against its own people.
"We must stand with the people that demand fundamental rights and freedom against those who repress them,” Mr Blinken told South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong during a visit to Seoul.
North Korea’s authoritarian regime is regularly accused of violating human rights. As many as 160,000 political prisoners are estimated to be held in a network of gulags across the country.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (L) bumps fists with South Korean Defense minister Suh Wook during their meeting in Seoul
Credit: KO SEONG-JOON/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Mr Blinken’s remarks were made during a visit to Japan and South Korea alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin aimed at rebuilding US alliances in Asia, in the first overseas trip by top-level members of President Joe Biden’s administration.
Mr Blinken openly pressed South Korea to keep Beijing in check and stressed the need to push for respect for human rights in North Korea.
He urged Seoul to "stand up to shared values" together to prevent a "dangerous erosion of democracy" in the region.
His criticism comes in sharp contrast to the approach of former president Donald Trump, who held unprecedented summits and boasted of a rapport with North Korea’s leader.
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