North Korea is revving up its “patriotic marketing,” promoting the supposed popularity among North Koreans of t-shirts emblazoned with the North Korean flag. This aims to bolster the public’s ideological solidarity by stressing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s political slogan of “Our Nation First.”
A Daily NK source in Pyongyang said Thursday that the frequent appearance of people wearing clothing with the North Korean flag on North Korean media as of late “started after an order was issued.”
The source said the campaign was part of the Central Committee’s Propaganda and Agitation Department’s ideological education plans, and that the Ministry of Light Industry was cooperating with the effort.
This means North Korea’s highest leadership cooked up the idea of “patriotic marketing” to inspire public patriotism. In fact, if key figures like North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister Kim Yo Jong and Workers’ Party Secretary Jo Yong Won proposed the campaign, Kim Jong Un himself likely approved it.
The source said the authorities issued an order calling for a “revolution within the clothing sector so that people could proudly wear clothing with the flag of the Republic.”
He added that the order called for the creation and production of several clothing designs sporting the flag.
“They chose a propaganda policy to eradicate among the young generation, who have never experienced invasion and exploitation by imperialists and have grown up knowing only happiness, the phenomena of neglecting our own things [North Korean culture] and envying the things of others and the outside world,” he said. “The policy intends to arm the young generation with the ideology of ‘Our Nation First’ and make them work for the country wearing clothes emblazoned with our flag, the proud flag of the Republic.”
This means the production and promotion of the t-shirts with the North Korean flag is actually a policy embodying the will of the highest leadership to instill patriotism in young people.
In fact, North Korea has been working hard to prevent ideological disaffection among the young people upon whom the country’s future rests, cracking down hard on “impure behavior” that threatens the regime such as importing or distributing cultural items from the outside world. North Korea is calling on young people to reject foreign culture and protect socialist thought and culture.
The source said the party is trying to instill in the young generation a sense of patriotism, “to think our socialist fatherland is the best in the world and to love what’s ours, even if we have no food or clothes.”
“The party says we must continue to carry out the project to turn the spirit overflowing with patriotism throughout the country into a party and social ethos for a decade going forward,” he said.
In a story titled “Our State-first Principle Is Just Belief in Excellence of Our Leader,” North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun wrote on Sept. 7 that “[a] great state and great people come into the world by a great leader,” and equated the country’s “state-first principle” to its “leader-first principle.”
Likewise, in a front page editorial on Sept. 1 entitled “Let’s Fully Realize Our State-first Principle,” the paper said that “the state-first principle is the leader-first principle,” and that “the era of ‘our state first’ is a great age that has unfolded under the superior ideology and leadership” of Kim Jong Un.
By linking the principles of “state first” and “leader first,” the authorities appear to be encouraging public loyalty toward Kim, particularly among young people.
Meanwhile, the source said many people felt wearing T-shirts with the flag was a bit strange at first, given the dull clothing they usually wear every day. Now, however, half the people “wear it with pride because it has the flag,” while the other half wear it “with little regard for the flag.”
The source said the authorities have sometimes ordered people to wear the shirts as a uniform, and sometimes forced participants in athletics tournaments to purchase them from the factory.
“The clothing is being mass-produced at clothing factories or silk factories,” he said.
Home-based crafters in Pyongyang and other major cities are producing products as well, cutting and sewing onto clothing printed images of the flag they have received from the authorities. The source said factory-made T-shirts sold in state-run shops cost KPW 30,000, while ones made at home cost anywhere from KPW 10,000 to KPW 15,000.
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