North Korean authorities have ordered intensified anti-American and anti-South Korean propaganda activities during the “anti-U.S. joint struggle month” from June 25 to July 27, with special focus on indoctrinating young people.
According to a Daily NK source in Pyongyang recently, the ruling party’s propaganda and agitation department convened a meeting for central government and provincial party officials above department chief rank early this month. The meeting emphasized that anti-U.S. and anti-South Korean ideology would be the centerpiece of this year’s campaign, with officials instructed to focus particularly on reaching youth.
The propaganda department framed these propaganda activities as a “national combat duty, not simply ideological work.” Officials were told to “focus all their energy on preventing young people from sympathizing with capitalist countries” while watching for potential political changes in South Korea during the second half of the year.
This year’s instructions were unusually specific. Party officials above department chief rank were ordered to personally take charge of one or two youth organizations per agency and conduct the indoctrination sessions themselves.
The department warned that the “revolution cannot survive if generations that haven’t experienced war become consumed by individual selfishness.” Officials were instructed to “awaken youth class consciousness by repeatedly emphasizing the atrocities committed by U.S. imperialists and puppet forces during the Korean War.”
The campaign calls for maximizing anti-American and anti-South Korean sentiment through shocking imagery—depicting U.S. tanks crushing elderly people, women and children during the Korean War, or American troops burying and burning people alive.
Officials were directed to organize visits to propaganda centers and field trips to cultural facilities displaying anti-American artwork.
Perhaps with South Korea’s recent presidential transition in mind, the meeting reaffirmed North Korea’s policy of completely ignoring the South under the party’s “two hostile states” doctrine.
“The propaganda and agitation department made clear that regardless of which government holds power in South Korea, it remains fundamentally a hostile force, and our party will maintain its strategy of ignoring South Korea indefinitely,” the source explained. “Officials said political changes in South Korea after the election provide no reason to alter this policy.”
Managing domestic concerns
The department also used the opportunity to address potential domestic unrest over North Korea’s troop deployment to Russia.
“Officials were told to include messaging about soldiers who participated in the Russia-Ukraine war and to minimize concerns about the Korean People’s Army’s reduced manpower,” the source said.
Notably, the propaganda and agitation department advised against harsh punishments for those showing insufficient ideological commitment, instead emphasizing prevention through surveillance.
The source noted that “with public discontent rising due to market crackdowns and information controls, officials were told to manage the situation through ideological education and heightened class consciousness to prevent serious political problems from emerging.”
