Korea: Northern Rebels Have A Theme Song To Die For

 

The rulers of North Korea are scared, very scared, and are not afraid to show it. For example, there are suddenly a lot more things people can be arrested for. The prison camps are filled with a record number of prisoners (over 200,000), because a lot more of those arrested are deemed a danger to the government and locked up or executed. The extent of this paranoia can be seen in the growing effort to stop people from singing, or just whistling the theme song from a 1980s "Robin Hood" type movie. The ban dates back to the late 1990s, but now a lot more people are violating the ban and getting arrested for it. It's all about growing resistance to the communist government. This is taking many forms. More people are openly telling jokes mocking the government and its leaders. Women are not only whistling forbidden tunes, they are also wearing jewelry (earrings, long condemned as capitalist decadence). Religion is showing up more in the north (where it is forbidden). Clergy are being executed and unrepentant believers are shipped off to prison camps. An even scarier media development is the use of official slogans (to defend the state or obey the ruling Kim family) in slightly twisted ways to justify taking bribes and stealing. Communism is, after all, a big user of , "the ends justify the means."

Korea: Northern Rebels Have A Theme Song To Die For