Kim Jong Un Released A Propaganda Song And The Song Went Viral On TikTok. What Hidden Messages Does the New North Korean Hit Contain | VIDEO

Most of the TikTok users enjoying the new North Korean hit have no idea what to say about the song’s lyrics, which praise a man who has vowed to “completely annihilate the US” and test-fired dozens of ballistic missiles.

“Let’s sing about Kim Jong Un, the great leader/ Let’s brag about Kim Jong Un, our loving father,” urges the lyricist.

Many TikTok users think it is a very good track. “This song needs a Grammy,” writes one netizen. “It’s so dystopian in the most addictive way,” adds another netizen.

But this seemingly harmless song hides something sinister, experts warn.

How to create a propaganda hit

“Friendly Father” is just the latest in a series of pop propaganda songs produced over the past 50 years in the communist North Korean state.

The song is lively, with a nice beat and dangerously catchy – not too dissimilar to Western pop hits. Despite a certain Soviet-era tinge, some Gen Z compare it to ‘Abba’, the famous Swedish band that dominated the world music charts from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s.

But the North Korean state does not care about commercial considerations when releasing such a song. It appeals to the idea of ​​commercial only to promote its propaganda.

Songs should be simple, accessible, something people can easily understand. They must also be intoned at a vocal range accessible to most people. In addition, they rarely convey emotions. Instead, it relies on motivating and “educating” people.

“All artistic production in North Korea must serve the class education of the citizens and, more specifically, educate them as to why they should feel a sense of gratitude, a sense of loyalty to the party,” he explains to BBC Alexandra Leonzini, University of Cambridge researcher specializing in North Korean music.

The North Korean regime believes in the “seed theory,” says Leonzini, in which every work must contain an ideological seed, a message that is then spread to the masses through art.

Messages sent between the lines

The nearly four-minute track released last month has an alarming new message, experts on North Korean affairs say.

It is not the first song dedicated to Kim Jong Un, but the new song is distinguished by a notable deviation in terms of language and vocabulary. The North Korean leader is referred to as “Father” and “The Great” – terms until now reserved for the founder of the Pyongyang regime, his grandfather Kim Il Sung.

When he took power in 2012 after the death of his father Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un was named the “Great Successor”. More than a decade away, analysts believe this may be a sign that he is upholding his image as the “Supreme Leader” of North Korea.

He recently altered the lyrics of another propaganda song, changing “our father Kim Il Sung” to “our father Kim Jong Un.”

It could be a sign of his new direction. Kim is more hostile and aggressive in rhetoric as he works to increase his regime’s military arsenal.

Earlier this year, he said the North would no longer seek reunification with the South and called the leadership in Seoul “public enemy number one” of the Pyongyang regime.

South Korean intelligence also learned that the arch in Pyongyang that symbolized the hope of reunification with the South was recently demolished. This arch was also a symbol of the legacy left by the grandfather of the current Pyongyang leader.

The North Korean regime uses songs “to indicate the direction in which it is heading, to signal important moments and developments in its policy”, concludes Alexandra Leonzini.

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