In March, North Korean authorities publicly condemned around 10 young people in Yanggang Province who engaged in anti-socialist and non-socialist behavior, Daily NK has learned.
“A public struggle session was carried out against 17 young people who were caught watching impure videos or using South Korean speech at a stadium in Hyesan, Yanggang Province in mid-March,” a source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “The young person who was the ringleader was given 10 years of forced labor.”
The other young people were given seven years of forced labor, while several minors who were caught using South Korean speech were given two years of juvenile reeducation.
In March, Daily NK obtained a video showing a public struggle session for Pyongyang residents accused of various crimes.
North Korea appears to be carrying out struggle sessions to stop anti-socialist and non-socialist phenomena in other regions as well, just as they are doing in Pyongyang.
“Struggle sessions against violators of Reactionary Ideology and Culture Rejection Act and the Pyongyang Cultural Language Protection Act are taking place nationwide in accordance with an order from the Central Committee issued in February,” the source said. “The sessions are conducted in each province, city and county on a case-by-case basis, with each case reported to Pyongyang.”
Singling young people out
The struggle session efforts are reportedly aimed at young people in particular.
“Members of the Korean Children’s Union, university students and young workers participate in the struggle sessions,” the source said. “Officials from the Socialist Patriotic Youth League appear and call out the names of problematic youth along with a list of all their misdeeds.
“The struggle sessions mostly take place in stadiums or cultural centers, and when they end, the subjects of criticism are punished with reform through labor or short-term forced labor. Their families are criticized, too, but they are not punished.
“When organized struggle sessions are carried out in schools, classes and agencies, ideological struggle meetings are convened where dozens of people intensively criticize the wrongdoers, and after the wrongdoers engage in self-criticism, they all engage in mutual criticism.”
North Korea is making efforts to prevent the spread of South Korean pop culture, meting out strong punishments toward people for watching South Korean TV shows or movies or using South Korean speech, all of which have grown increasingly popular among the country’s youth.
In fact, North Korea has been cracking down especially hard on young people through the adoption of a series of laws, including the 2020 Reactionary Ideology and Culture Rejection Act, the 2021 Youth Education Guarantee Act and the 2023 Pyongyang Cultural Language Protection Act.
With the authorities adding struggle sessions on top of all these legislative efforts, the state appears intent in instilling fear among young people to prevent them from getting absorbed into capitalist culture.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources who live inside North Korea, China and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
