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In response to nuke test, S. Korea to blast K-Pop across border on Kim Jong Un's bday

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XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ict-k-pop-blasts-on-kim-jong-un-for-nuke-test

With Kim Jong Un turning up the heat with North Korea’s fourth nuclear test, South Korea will respond Friday by pumping up the volume. Literally.

From noon on North Korean leader Kim’s birthday, South Korea plans to fire up loudspeakers along the heavily fortified border and resume the propaganda blasts that brought the reclusive regime to a war footing in August -- and then to the negotiating table. Dropping leaflets into Kim’s "front yard" is also an option, according to one lawmaker.

While years of United Nations sanctions and other penalties have failed to bring Kim to heel, one thing that can get under his skin is broadcasts over the demilitarized zone of South Korean ballads and rap music, a genre known as K-pop. The speakers have been used only once in the past decade, for part of August in retaliation for the maiming of two South Korean soldiers by DMZ mines.

That spat escalated into what North Korea called a "semi-state of war" that was cooled by marathon talks at a border village where Kim’s officials agreed to halt the mobilization of forces. One condition was that Seoul turned the speakers off.

"Kim Jong Un isn’t your typical dictator. He’s a god in North Korea, and propaganda broadcasts raise questions among North Koreans about that,” said Park Chang Kwon, a senior research fellow at the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in Seoul. “Broadcasts from South Korea can reach deep and far into North Korea’s society, imbuing the minds of its people with the images of a free nation and hurting the oppressive personality cult.”
Click to expand...

The bursts range from K-Pop and recordings of casual conversations to discussions about the importance of human rights and the lives of South Korea’s middle class, according to the defense ministry in Seoul. Among the songs that rang out across the DMZ in August were a ballad called “Heart” by female singer IU, and electro-rap song “Bang Bang Bang” by a boy band called Big Bang.

In October 2014, North Korea shot at balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets, and has threatened artillery attacks against activists flying such materials over the border.

The loudspeaker move could yet backfire, given the level to which the propaganda irritates the regime.

“The resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts may emotionally provoke the North Korean military sensitive to criticism of the ‘supreme dignity,’ rather than help resolve the nuclear issue,” Cheong Seong Chang, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute near Seoul, said by text message.

With Kim’s birthday -- he is believed to be in his early thirties -- falling on the day of the new broadcasts, “North Korea may react in an ultra-strong way to this decision by South Korea, viewing it as an act of ruining a national party.”
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KuDvCngl.jpg
 
I

Ikuu

Had his dog run over by Blizzard's CEO
Forcing people to listen to K-POP should be considered a War Crime.
 
B

brian577

Banned
Of all the options for retaliation, they choose the worst one short of military action. Expect the next week to be really fun, as the North and South ratchet up the tension until the South (hopefully) backs down.
 
X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
How long until South Korea follows Japan's lead and plasters images on their military vehicles?

RgoZg0R.jpg


They could parade those all along the border while blasting music.
 
L

Lagamorph

Member
For some reason I read the title as "S. Korea to blast S-Club across border"

I need to slow down when I read thread titles.
 
B

brian577

Banned
Stabby McSter said:
how is this punishment
Click to expand...

They play all kinds of things including actual news and accurate weather. Things that are completely foreign concepts to the North Koreans. When the South reported on an industrial accident in the North, an event they probably wouldn't hear about for weeks, the citizens who heard the broadcasts started calling their relatives to check on them. They are a very powerful propaganda too.
 
PAULINK

PAULINK

I microwave steaks.
It's bad enough that they pollute the airwaves in public places like malls, stores, tv, etc. If Kim Jong Un decides to start a war over this, I wouldn't blame him.
 
Goro Majima

Goro Majima

Kitty Genovese Member
Seems fair. Dropping leaflets sounds good too.

You have to respond somehow when they're up there setting off nukes underground.
 
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