Music News

South Korea Responds to North Korea’s Nuclear Test with…Pop Music?

The world is still rattled by North Korea’s apparent detonation of a nuclear device earlier this month. The chubby (and probably insane) Kim Jong-Un is determined to be an asshole on the global stage. And because the entire regime is so weird and erratic–even China can’t control what’s going on in that strange, despotic, hermetic country–other nations are loathe to do anything too extreme to corral the DPRK’s behaviour.

South Korea, however, has little choice. Outside of a full-on invasion–which they will never do–they need to push back, even a little. So, in response to North Korea’s latest nuclear test, the South is responding with an assault of K-pop.

Today (Friday), the South once again fired up its might PA systems along the DMZ and began blaring South Korean pop music over the border. They’re calling this “Pop-aganda” or “propa-Gangnam,” when Psy is included.

I haven’t been able to find out what songs they’ve weaponized, but The Telegraph seems to think that it might include this hit from a boy band called Big Bang.

More information on the weaponization of K-pop can be found here. By the way, along with it being David Bowie’s birthday (69), Elvis Presley’s zombie birthday (he would have been 81), it’s also Kim Jong-Un’s birthday. We think he’s 33.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 38025 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

Let us know what you think!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.