The North Korean military’s General Political Bureau is currently replacing the karaoke machines in use across the entire military with newer models, Daily NK has learned.
This effort is part of commemorations to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army on Nov. 8 and the 60th anniversary of the army slogan ildangbaek (“a-match-for-a-hundred”) on Feb. 6.
A source inside North Korea told Daily NK last Wednesday that the General Political Bureau ordered unit political departments to replace the karaoke machines “already deployed at the company level” with “more capable ones” to mark the two anniversaries.
According to the source, karaoke machines — a form of amusement soldiers love to use during holidays, leaves and weekday recreation time — were installed in every company-level classroom following a 2006 order by late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
Since then, the machines have been repaired or partially replaced, but this is the first time a military-wide effort has commenced to replace the old machines with new ones.
North Korea initially celebrated “Army Day” on Feb. 8, but changed it to Apr. 25 in 1978 to mark the date of the founding of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army, the guerrilla unit led by North Korea’s founder Kim Il Sung and the predecessor of today’s Korean People’s Army (KPA).
In 2018, North Korea changed Apr. 25 to “Military Foundation Day” and reinstated “Army Day” on Feb. 8.
North Korea also commemorates the day when Kim Il Sung introduced the slogan ildangbaek during a visit to the Taedoksan Guard Post in the western part of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) on Feb. 6, 1963.
The slogan means “each soldier is a match for 100 enemy ones.”
The General Political Bureau is reportedly calling the karaoke machines “a necessary fellow traveler” in the process of turning the army into “fire-breathing” fighters and “ildangbaek” warriors.
In this way, the authorities are using the replacement of karaoke machines in company-level classrooms across the military to commemorate the two days — both of which mark symbolically important fifth or tenth year anniversaries — in their propaganda efforts aimed at young “MZ” generation soldiers who like “new” things.
SOLDIERS ARE WELCOMING THE NEW KAROKE MACHINES
The source said political departments across the military are claiming that the replacement of the machines is a “special favor from the Workers’ Party” to turn the companies — the “most fundamental fighting unit of the KPA” — into “political and ideological groups full of combative spirit and excitement” and “fill the entire military with songs of eternal victory” in accordance with a “decision by the [December] plenary meeting [of the Central Committee].”
The source said the effort is the result of military political policy presented during the Sixth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee late last year to turn 2023 into “a year of strengthening the political and ideological might of the armed forces of the DPRK in every way.”
He said the goal is to “contribute to perfecting unit combat preparations by improving the quality of the cultural life of young soldiers to settle them into company life.”
In fact, young soldiers are responding enthusiastically to the replacement of the karaoke machines.
Most importantly, the new machines have updated playlists with more songs to sing. Soldiers can also sing songs to different accompaniments, much to their delight, the source said.
The source further reported that the General Political Bureau is calling on political departments to use the new machines to “quickly prepare troops to mobilize for war” and organize military entertainment in a more diverse way to prepare soldiers as “combat formations full of the ildangbaek spirit” this year “when there are so many important national commemoration days.”
This year, North Korea celebrates several symbolically important five or 10-year political anniversaries, including the 75th Army Day on Feb. 8, the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Korean War armistice on Jul. 27 (Day of Victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War), and the 75th anniversary of the Day of the Foundation of the Republic on Sept. 9.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
