Kim Jong-un, leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, has been ordering homes to be searched and banned music to be incinerated in the neighbourhood of Inminban, according to reports.
A source told South Korean online publication Daily NK that “the local propaganda departments are getting Inminban heads to collect cassettes and CDs from people’s homes and are combing through them. If even one song from the banned list is discovered, they incinerate the whole thing.” The country is well known for its isolationist tendencies and disdain for the potential influences posed by other countries.
This comes in light of the news that Slovenian group Laibach will be performing two concerts in Pyongyang in August which will make them the first foreign band to perform there. This has caused a controversy of its very own. Laibach have been criticised in the past for wearing military uniforms and co-opting what may be deemed nationalist imagery, though others have claimed that this is in fact a critique of totalitarianism. The concerts will certainly be interesting to follow in light of North Korea’s persistent aversion to foreign music and culture.
