By C. Perera, JadeTimes News
North Korea is intensifying its crackdown on various aspects of daily life, including wedding dresses and the use of slang, in an effort to counteract South Korean influence, according to a new report by South Korea's Unification Ministry. This report, which draws on testimonies from hundreds of defectors, reveals heightened searches of homes since 2021 for signs of foreign culture, such as white wedding dresses and grooms lifting brides. Phones are being checked for South Korean slang, and items like sunglasses are labeled counter revolutionary, despite leader Kim Jong Un himself wearing them.
The report also highlights the case of a 22 year old executed for consuming and distributing South Korean media, first reported by the last year. North Korea dismissed that report as "slander and fabrication" but has yet to respond to this new document.
The punishment for these infractions remains unclear, though the crackdown on South Korean culture appears severe. A 2020 law imposes the death penalty for watching or distributing South Korean entertainment. The report includes an account of a public execution of a young farmer for consuming and sharing South Korean media, the only known execution under this law. Earlier this year, a video surfaced showing teenagers sentenced to hard labor for similar offenses.
This report comes amid rising tensions between North and South Korea, with the North launching over 2,000 balloons filled with rubbish across the border since last month, some containing parasites. Relations have further strained following a recent meeting between Kim Jong Un and Russia's Vladimir Putin. Despite being compiled annually since 2018, this is only the second time the report has been publicly released to avoid provoking Korea