Post by Admin on Nov 16, 2015 0:38:57 GMT
Scientology South Korea
(I forgot.... this goes with South Korea Empowered with Tools to Accomplish Universal Human Rights - Youth for Human Rights International in partnership with the Church of Scientology International)
www.scientologyreligion.org/news/pg090.html
South Korea blasts K-Pop music towards North Korea
August 24, 2015
www.allkpop.com/article/2015/08/south-korea-blasts-k-pop-music-towards-north-korea
Hearing your favorite K-Pop songs blasted on loudspeakers sounds like a dream come true, right? Well, that is not the case for North Korea, who is resisting with all their might the South Korean propaganda that has been flowing into their side of the DMZ.
SEE ALSO: Big Bang kick off their 'MADE' tour in Japan and set an unprecedented three year record
The South Korean army is reportedly blasting K-Pop music towards the north, along with domestic and foreign news, in the hopes of receiving an apology for the landmines that crippled two of the south's soldiers. A rep from the Department of Defense relayed, "The K-Pop songs which are being played as a part of the propaganda are IU's "Heart," Girls' Generation's "Genie," and Big Bang's "Bang Bang Bang." Further, it was revealed that South Korea is broadcasting its modern developed economy while pinpointing the north's sorry state of affairs via the loudspeakers.
According to the Department of Defense, the propaganda broadcasts are nicknamed 'The Sound of Hope,' similar to the contents of North Korea's FM broadcast 'The Sound of Freedom.' Currently, the broadcasts are taking place at a total of eleven locations on the front lines of the border.
S. Korea agrees to end broadcasts as North expresses regret for provocations
www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/north-korea-hates-those-loudspeakers-because-they-make-fun-of-kim/2015/08/24/439f6039-3f37-490b-9fa1-e3b8022893e6_story.html
By Anna Fifield August 24
TOKYO — North and South Korea reached an agreement early Tuesday to resolve the showdown on the divided peninsula, with Pyongyang promising to express regret for recent provocations, including a land-mine attack that severely injured two South Korean soldiers.
In return, Seoul agreed to turn off the loudspeakers that have angered Pyongyang so much that it had entered what the North called a “quasi-state of war.” Shortly after noon Tuesday, South Korea announced that it had stopped the broadcasts.
The deal came after three days of marathon talks during which North Korea was moving troops and military equipment to the border, apparently trying to signal that it was ready for combat, while South Korea declared that it would retaliate against any provocation.
Initial details suggested that the deal was a win for South Korea, although it fell short of the full-throated apology Seoul wanted from Pyongyang for the attack this month in which two soldiers stepped on a North Korean box mine on a known patrol path just over the southern side of the border. One soldier lost both legs, while the other lost one.
Kim Kwan-jin, the South Korean president’s national security adviser, told reporters in Seoul shortly after 2 a.m. that North Korea’s willingness to express regret was “very meaningful.”
“We expect the two sides will implement the agreement in good faith and create trust through dialogue and cooperation,” Kim said, according to the Yonhap News Agency.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s regime also promised not to stage any more provocations and said it would start talks to allow the resumption of reunions between relatives who were separated when the division of the Korean Peninsula was cemented at the end of the Korean War. The estranged neighbors said they would continuing talking to try to resolve other differences.
“We welcome this agreement and are hopeful it leads to decreasing tensions on the peninsula,” said John Kirby, a State Department spokesman, although he also said the United States would judge North Korea by its actions.
Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. secretary general and a South Korean, said he hoped that the inter-Korean talks would “lead to the resumption of talks for addressing the nuclear issue.”
Although Pyongyang promised only to express regret for the injured soldiers and did not take responsibility for causing the injuries, the concessions made by the North underscore the lengths to which Kim’s representatives were prepared to go to silence the loudspeakers. They had been blaring messages into North Korea that amounted to outrageous treachery, at least to regime ears.
[North Korea threatens action in over anti-Pyongyang broadcasts]
“Kim Jong Un’s incompetent regime is trying to deceive the world with its lame lies,” a kind-sounding woman would say in a slow, deliberate voice emanating from one of the banks of 48 speakers set up along the South Korean side of the military demarcation line. The messages can travel about 12 miles at night and about half that distance during the day, well into North Korean territory.
Another message noted that Kim Jong Un, who took over from his father, Kim Jong Il, at the end of 2011, hasn’t traveled abroad as leader or met a single foreign head of state.
“President Park Geun-hye has . . . visited many countries since she became the president, including three visits to China,” one of the recorded messages says, referring to the South Korean president and her close relationship with Beijing, North Korea’s supposed patron. “However, Kim Jong Un hasn’t visited any other countries in the three-plus years since he became leader.”
The speakers also play peppy southern K-pop songs such as “Tell Me Your Wish” by Girls’ Generation. (“Tell me your wish, tell me your little dream, imagine your ideal type in your head, and look at me, I’m your genie, your dream, your genie.”)
In North Korea, state media holds up the ruling Kim family as demigods, raving about their miraculous feats and broadcasting such songs as “Our Leader Loved by the People.” The regime indoctrinates children into its personality cult beginning in kindergarten and strictly controls the flow of information into the country.
[North Korea indoctrinates kindergarten children in cult of the Kims]
“For the North Koreans, the broadcasts are dangerous, because this is about the survival of the regime,” said Chun Yung-woo, a former South Korean nuclear negotiator who has sat across the table from North Korean negotiators on many occasions.
“They are worried that this could destroy the soldiers’ loyalty to the ‘supreme leader’ and shake their faith in the system that’s central to regime survival,” Chun said.
But John Delury, an associate professor at Yonsei University in Seoul, said the idea that any North Korean soldiers would defect because of overt propaganda they had heard over the loudspeakers was “laughable” and that there were much more effective ways to be subversive.
But, he added, it is hard to overestimate how fundamental the dignity of the leadership is in North Korea’s political system.
It’s “what makes the whole place tick,” Delury said. “From their perspective, the speakers are slandering their leader and it’s reprehensible, so everyone involved needs to be able to report back to Pyongyang: ‘I just screamed at the South Koreans for 24 hours and told them to take the speakers down.’ ”
[U.N. committee condemns North Korea, citing crimes against humanity]
Both Koreas routinely blasted messages at each other until 2004, when, during the “sunshine policy” period of improving ties, both agreed to take down their speakers.
However, after blaming the North for the 2010 torpedoing of the South Korean warship Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors, Seoul ordered that the speakers be reinstalled at 11 locations. North Korea threatened to turn Seoul into a “sea of fire,” and the speakers had not been turned on until this month.
Earlier, as the marathon talks continued Monday, Park, the South Korean president, said that her government would “continue the loudspeaker broadcasts” unless North Korea apologized and promised not to stage any more provocations.
Seasoned American and South Korean diplomats said they doubted that Pyongyang would issue an apology, noting that it had spent 60 years denying responsibility for its actions in the face of overwhelming evidence. Not only did the North deny responsibility for the land-mine and Cheonan attacks, but it also denied starting the war in 1950.
But this “modest agreement” constituted an indirect admission of responsibility for the incident, which North Korea had denied prior to the talks, said Scott Snyder of the Council on Foreign Relations.
“Both sides have also shown that they have the wherewithal to negotiate their way out of a crisis,” he said. “For this reason, the test of whether this agreement marks a real turning point in inter-Korean relations will lie in the ability of both sides to keep their agreements and to institutionalize future dialogue and cooperation.”
Yoonjung Seo in Seoul contributed to this report.
Anna Fifield is The Post’s bureau chief in Tokyo, focusing on Japan and the Koreas. She previously reported for the Financial Times from Washington DC, Seoul, Sydney, London and from across the Middle East.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Comment Section:
banickoss
8/25/2015 11:53 AM PDT
I guess I'm ignorant of the culture, but, how is the fact the south is blaring words (propaganda) across the border an "act of war"? It's not even an act of aggression, unless the misdemeanor of disturbing the peace is an act of state-sponsored aggression.
What were they blaring?
And, why does the North consider it an act of war?
BTW, planting the land mines WAS an act of war, as it could have killed people, and it did maim them (I don't know how badly though).
LikeShare
PureJoy
8/25/2015 2:29 PM PDT
Hey I am a Korean.
I think I can answer about it.
It is No cultural thing.
North Korea survive because they control every articles and broadcasts in north Korea.
Those south Korean loudspeakers only play music and south Korean news or world news. They usually don't blame north Korea.
Problem is north Korean soldiers on the border don't believe north Korean propaganda anymore when they keep hear better news from those speakers.
This is why they don't like it so much.
The reason why north Korea says it is act of war is, a south Korean president have agreed this is attack on North Korea and to turned off all those speakers. So, turning on them is breaking that promise.
Like
DanDaily1
8/25/2015 3:52 AM PDT
Pyongyang promising to express regret for recent provocations, " Is double speak for we kissed their as*es and hope they won't be mad at us anymore. You know, it's funny; we call North Korea backward? But this stock market crash hasn't affected them one bit.
South Korea Blasts K-Pop As A Weapon Against The North & If It Was These 5 Songs, No Wonder It Worked
Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images News/Getty Images
ALICIA LU - August 24 NEWS
www.bustle.com/articles/106149-south-korea-blasts-k-pop-as-a-weapon-against-the-north-if-it-was-these-5
You know a situation can't be good when one side brings in K-pop. Most people might not be aware, but the genre's aggravation potential is colossal. So the fact that South Korea blasted K-pop at North Korea through its loudspeakers for about two weeks is a strong indication of how close they came to war. After two of its soldiers were injured by landmines allegedly planted by North Korea, South Korea started blasting both anti-North propaganda and (in a clear showing of aggression) K-pop over loudspeakers, demanding an apology from Pyongyang. On Monday, the notoriously stubborn North Korea finally acquiesced in exchange for silence — proof of the effectiveness of weaponized K-pop.
Early on Monday, South Korean President Park Geun-hye issued a statement demanding North Korea's apology:
We need a clear apology and measures to prevent a recurrence of these provocations and tense situations. Otherwise, this government will take appropriate steps and continue loudspeaker broadcasts.
At around 2 a.m. local time, during intense marathon talks, South Korea announced that it would cease its loudspeaker broadcasts at noon. The announcement came after North Korea reportedly expressed regret for the landmines, which seriously wounded two South Korean soldiers on August 4 in the Demilitarized Zone along the border between the two countries — the incident which kicked off the month-long tensions.
Initially, North Korea had refused to take responsibility for the landmines, prompting South Korea to begin blasting its loudspeakers in retaliation. The ongoing conflict even led both countries to trade artillery fire last Thursday, forcing North Korea to declare a "quasi-state of war" and threaten further military action unless South Korea turned off their loudspeakers by a certain deadline.
Instead of meeting North Korea's demands, South Korea continued its audio assault, battling Pyongyang's artillery, submarines, troops, and invasion vehicles with one very dangerous secret weapon.
Over the course of history, man has learned to weaponize a vast array of substances, from gunpowder to disease-carrying insects. But never have we seen anything with such maddening qualities. South Korea's use of K-pop could change warfare and history as we know it. Not to be sadistic, but I'm going to have to expose you to some examples for you to truly understand.
According to The Washington Post, one of the songs in South Korea's arsenal was "Tell Me Your Wish" by Girls' Generation:
Listening to it once is already a tall order for some, but imagine listening to it on repeat, and at an earth-shattering volume. Not even the world's most despotic ruler could withstand such an onslaught.
[(........Actually there is some kind of coded tones in the songs that actually injure the ears: producing headaches and various other illnesses. My eldest can hear a piercing sound from three rooms over and up the stairs if someone has left the DVD player off and the TV on set to the DVD chanel. I will post the evidence behind the science, later. It is clear here that Scientology is peddling Sex Addictions in a culture that closes their eyes to the abuses of it, and is hiding their codex in the transmissions causing ear trauma that facillitates PTSD that facillitates adaption of addictions... a very viscious cycle that needs to be broken not passed like an STD that is usually also cycled through unsuspecting populations.......)]
And that's just one example. While it's unclear what other songs South Korea hurled at the north, here are some that would be equally devastating.
"Bubble Pop!" By Hyuna
"So Crazy" By T-Ara
"30Sexy" By Rain
"Shake It" By Sistar
Actually, on second thought, perhaps the real reason North Korea crumbled when faced with South Korea's K-pop assault was not because these unreasonably catchy songs were destroying the people's spirits, but because they were breathing some life into them. Playing these ditties on repeat might have turned the totalitarian state into a nonstop party, and Kim Jong-un's not about to let that happen.
(I forgot.... this goes with South Korea Empowered with Tools to Accomplish Universal Human Rights - Youth for Human Rights International in partnership with the Church of Scientology International)
www.scientologyreligion.org/news/pg090.html
South Korea blasts K-Pop music towards North Korea
August 24, 2015
www.allkpop.com/article/2015/08/south-korea-blasts-k-pop-music-towards-north-korea
Hearing your favorite K-Pop songs blasted on loudspeakers sounds like a dream come true, right? Well, that is not the case for North Korea, who is resisting with all their might the South Korean propaganda that has been flowing into their side of the DMZ.
SEE ALSO: Big Bang kick off their 'MADE' tour in Japan and set an unprecedented three year record
The South Korean army is reportedly blasting K-Pop music towards the north, along with domestic and foreign news, in the hopes of receiving an apology for the landmines that crippled two of the south's soldiers. A rep from the Department of Defense relayed, "The K-Pop songs which are being played as a part of the propaganda are IU's "Heart," Girls' Generation's "Genie," and Big Bang's "Bang Bang Bang." Further, it was revealed that South Korea is broadcasting its modern developed economy while pinpointing the north's sorry state of affairs via the loudspeakers.
According to the Department of Defense, the propaganda broadcasts are nicknamed 'The Sound of Hope,' similar to the contents of North Korea's FM broadcast 'The Sound of Freedom.' Currently, the broadcasts are taking place at a total of eleven locations on the front lines of the border.
S. Korea agrees to end broadcasts as North expresses regret for provocations
www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/north-korea-hates-those-loudspeakers-because-they-make-fun-of-kim/2015/08/24/439f6039-3f37-490b-9fa1-e3b8022893e6_story.html
By Anna Fifield August 24
TOKYO — North and South Korea reached an agreement early Tuesday to resolve the showdown on the divided peninsula, with Pyongyang promising to express regret for recent provocations, including a land-mine attack that severely injured two South Korean soldiers.
In return, Seoul agreed to turn off the loudspeakers that have angered Pyongyang so much that it had entered what the North called a “quasi-state of war.” Shortly after noon Tuesday, South Korea announced that it had stopped the broadcasts.
The deal came after three days of marathon talks during which North Korea was moving troops and military equipment to the border, apparently trying to signal that it was ready for combat, while South Korea declared that it would retaliate against any provocation.
Initial details suggested that the deal was a win for South Korea, although it fell short of the full-throated apology Seoul wanted from Pyongyang for the attack this month in which two soldiers stepped on a North Korean box mine on a known patrol path just over the southern side of the border. One soldier lost both legs, while the other lost one.
Kim Kwan-jin, the South Korean president’s national security adviser, told reporters in Seoul shortly after 2 a.m. that North Korea’s willingness to express regret was “very meaningful.”
“We expect the two sides will implement the agreement in good faith and create trust through dialogue and cooperation,” Kim said, according to the Yonhap News Agency.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s regime also promised not to stage any more provocations and said it would start talks to allow the resumption of reunions between relatives who were separated when the division of the Korean Peninsula was cemented at the end of the Korean War. The estranged neighbors said they would continuing talking to try to resolve other differences.
“We welcome this agreement and are hopeful it leads to decreasing tensions on the peninsula,” said John Kirby, a State Department spokesman, although he also said the United States would judge North Korea by its actions.
Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. secretary general and a South Korean, said he hoped that the inter-Korean talks would “lead to the resumption of talks for addressing the nuclear issue.”
Although Pyongyang promised only to express regret for the injured soldiers and did not take responsibility for causing the injuries, the concessions made by the North underscore the lengths to which Kim’s representatives were prepared to go to silence the loudspeakers. They had been blaring messages into North Korea that amounted to outrageous treachery, at least to regime ears.
[North Korea threatens action in over anti-Pyongyang broadcasts]
“Kim Jong Un’s incompetent regime is trying to deceive the world with its lame lies,” a kind-sounding woman would say in a slow, deliberate voice emanating from one of the banks of 48 speakers set up along the South Korean side of the military demarcation line. The messages can travel about 12 miles at night and about half that distance during the day, well into North Korean territory.
Another message noted that Kim Jong Un, who took over from his father, Kim Jong Il, at the end of 2011, hasn’t traveled abroad as leader or met a single foreign head of state.
“President Park Geun-hye has . . . visited many countries since she became the president, including three visits to China,” one of the recorded messages says, referring to the South Korean president and her close relationship with Beijing, North Korea’s supposed patron. “However, Kim Jong Un hasn’t visited any other countries in the three-plus years since he became leader.”
The speakers also play peppy southern K-pop songs such as “Tell Me Your Wish” by Girls’ Generation. (“Tell me your wish, tell me your little dream, imagine your ideal type in your head, and look at me, I’m your genie, your dream, your genie.”)
In North Korea, state media holds up the ruling Kim family as demigods, raving about their miraculous feats and broadcasting such songs as “Our Leader Loved by the People.” The regime indoctrinates children into its personality cult beginning in kindergarten and strictly controls the flow of information into the country.
[North Korea indoctrinates kindergarten children in cult of the Kims]
“For the North Koreans, the broadcasts are dangerous, because this is about the survival of the regime,” said Chun Yung-woo, a former South Korean nuclear negotiator who has sat across the table from North Korean negotiators on many occasions.
“They are worried that this could destroy the soldiers’ loyalty to the ‘supreme leader’ and shake their faith in the system that’s central to regime survival,” Chun said.
But John Delury, an associate professor at Yonsei University in Seoul, said the idea that any North Korean soldiers would defect because of overt propaganda they had heard over the loudspeakers was “laughable” and that there were much more effective ways to be subversive.
But, he added, it is hard to overestimate how fundamental the dignity of the leadership is in North Korea’s political system.
It’s “what makes the whole place tick,” Delury said. “From their perspective, the speakers are slandering their leader and it’s reprehensible, so everyone involved needs to be able to report back to Pyongyang: ‘I just screamed at the South Koreans for 24 hours and told them to take the speakers down.’ ”
[U.N. committee condemns North Korea, citing crimes against humanity]
Both Koreas routinely blasted messages at each other until 2004, when, during the “sunshine policy” period of improving ties, both agreed to take down their speakers.
However, after blaming the North for the 2010 torpedoing of the South Korean warship Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors, Seoul ordered that the speakers be reinstalled at 11 locations. North Korea threatened to turn Seoul into a “sea of fire,” and the speakers had not been turned on until this month.
Earlier, as the marathon talks continued Monday, Park, the South Korean president, said that her government would “continue the loudspeaker broadcasts” unless North Korea apologized and promised not to stage any more provocations.
Seasoned American and South Korean diplomats said they doubted that Pyongyang would issue an apology, noting that it had spent 60 years denying responsibility for its actions in the face of overwhelming evidence. Not only did the North deny responsibility for the land-mine and Cheonan attacks, but it also denied starting the war in 1950.
But this “modest agreement” constituted an indirect admission of responsibility for the incident, which North Korea had denied prior to the talks, said Scott Snyder of the Council on Foreign Relations.
“Both sides have also shown that they have the wherewithal to negotiate their way out of a crisis,” he said. “For this reason, the test of whether this agreement marks a real turning point in inter-Korean relations will lie in the ability of both sides to keep their agreements and to institutionalize future dialogue and cooperation.”
Yoonjung Seo in Seoul contributed to this report.
Anna Fifield is The Post’s bureau chief in Tokyo, focusing on Japan and the Koreas. She previously reported for the Financial Times from Washington DC, Seoul, Sydney, London and from across the Middle East.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Comment Section:
banickoss
8/25/2015 11:53 AM PDT
I guess I'm ignorant of the culture, but, how is the fact the south is blaring words (propaganda) across the border an "act of war"? It's not even an act of aggression, unless the misdemeanor of disturbing the peace is an act of state-sponsored aggression.
What were they blaring?
And, why does the North consider it an act of war?
BTW, planting the land mines WAS an act of war, as it could have killed people, and it did maim them (I don't know how badly though).
LikeShare
PureJoy
8/25/2015 2:29 PM PDT
Hey I am a Korean.
I think I can answer about it.
It is No cultural thing.
North Korea survive because they control every articles and broadcasts in north Korea.
Those south Korean loudspeakers only play music and south Korean news or world news. They usually don't blame north Korea.
Problem is north Korean soldiers on the border don't believe north Korean propaganda anymore when they keep hear better news from those speakers.
This is why they don't like it so much.
The reason why north Korea says it is act of war is, a south Korean president have agreed this is attack on North Korea and to turned off all those speakers. So, turning on them is breaking that promise.
Like
DanDaily1
8/25/2015 3:52 AM PDT
Pyongyang promising to express regret for recent provocations, " Is double speak for we kissed their as*es and hope they won't be mad at us anymore. You know, it's funny; we call North Korea backward? But this stock market crash hasn't affected them one bit.
South Korea Blasts K-Pop As A Weapon Against The North & If It Was These 5 Songs, No Wonder It Worked
Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images News/Getty Images
ALICIA LU - August 24 NEWS
www.bustle.com/articles/106149-south-korea-blasts-k-pop-as-a-weapon-against-the-north-if-it-was-these-5
You know a situation can't be good when one side brings in K-pop. Most people might not be aware, but the genre's aggravation potential is colossal. So the fact that South Korea blasted K-pop at North Korea through its loudspeakers for about two weeks is a strong indication of how close they came to war. After two of its soldiers were injured by landmines allegedly planted by North Korea, South Korea started blasting both anti-North propaganda and (in a clear showing of aggression) K-pop over loudspeakers, demanding an apology from Pyongyang. On Monday, the notoriously stubborn North Korea finally acquiesced in exchange for silence — proof of the effectiveness of weaponized K-pop.
Early on Monday, South Korean President Park Geun-hye issued a statement demanding North Korea's apology:
We need a clear apology and measures to prevent a recurrence of these provocations and tense situations. Otherwise, this government will take appropriate steps and continue loudspeaker broadcasts.
At around 2 a.m. local time, during intense marathon talks, South Korea announced that it would cease its loudspeaker broadcasts at noon. The announcement came after North Korea reportedly expressed regret for the landmines, which seriously wounded two South Korean soldiers on August 4 in the Demilitarized Zone along the border between the two countries — the incident which kicked off the month-long tensions.
Initially, North Korea had refused to take responsibility for the landmines, prompting South Korea to begin blasting its loudspeakers in retaliation. The ongoing conflict even led both countries to trade artillery fire last Thursday, forcing North Korea to declare a "quasi-state of war" and threaten further military action unless South Korea turned off their loudspeakers by a certain deadline.
Instead of meeting North Korea's demands, South Korea continued its audio assault, battling Pyongyang's artillery, submarines, troops, and invasion vehicles with one very dangerous secret weapon.
Over the course of history, man has learned to weaponize a vast array of substances, from gunpowder to disease-carrying insects. But never have we seen anything with such maddening qualities. South Korea's use of K-pop could change warfare and history as we know it. Not to be sadistic, but I'm going to have to expose you to some examples for you to truly understand.
According to The Washington Post, one of the songs in South Korea's arsenal was "Tell Me Your Wish" by Girls' Generation:
Listening to it once is already a tall order for some, but imagine listening to it on repeat, and at an earth-shattering volume. Not even the world's most despotic ruler could withstand such an onslaught.
[(........Actually there is some kind of coded tones in the songs that actually injure the ears: producing headaches and various other illnesses. My eldest can hear a piercing sound from three rooms over and up the stairs if someone has left the DVD player off and the TV on set to the DVD chanel. I will post the evidence behind the science, later. It is clear here that Scientology is peddling Sex Addictions in a culture that closes their eyes to the abuses of it, and is hiding their codex in the transmissions causing ear trauma that facillitates PTSD that facillitates adaption of addictions... a very viscious cycle that needs to be broken not passed like an STD that is usually also cycled through unsuspecting populations.......)]
And that's just one example. While it's unclear what other songs South Korea hurled at the north, here are some that would be equally devastating.
"Bubble Pop!" By Hyuna
"So Crazy" By T-Ara
"30Sexy" By Rain
"Shake It" By Sistar
Actually, on second thought, perhaps the real reason North Korea crumbled when faced with South Korea's K-pop assault was not because these unreasonably catchy songs were destroying the people's spirits, but because they were breathing some life into them. Playing these ditties on repeat might have turned the totalitarian state into a nonstop party, and Kim Jong-un's not about to let that happen.