Kim Jong-un hailed as ‘friendly father’ of North Korea in bizarre new propaganda song – but vid ‘hides sinister message’
NORTH Korea’s tyrant leader Kim Jong-un has been bizarrely praised in the country’s latest propaganda laced pop song as experts warn the video hides a sinister message.
Titled Friendly Father, the song heaps compliments on the dictator calling him “warm-hearted like your mother” and “benevolent like your father” as video clips show him acting like a dad by his brainwashed citizens.
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”.
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.”
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.”
