Since the split in 1951, North Korean music has taken a markedly different path from that of its neighbor to the south. In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, all music must serve the state. The state controls all media, so only it can approve music for public distribution. In 1990 Kim Jong-Il declared that all North Korean music must encourage people to respect the country and its political system. The song in this video, “Potato Pride,” a North Korean propaganda song that celebrates about the rationing of food in North Korea’s rural villages, twistedly tries to do just that.
We are revising the AllAroundThisWorld.com site — the information you’re seeking may still be here, but a lot of links are broken and details may be out of date. We are currently using a new (better!) site — ExploreEverywhere.com — to tell you all about our class offerings, our “pen pal” program and how to become one of our teachers, and will eventually be moving all the goodies from here over to there. So, GO TO THE NEW SITE!
