{"id":13652,"date":"2010-11-08T16:50:23","date_gmt":"2010-11-08T07:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.dailynk.com\/en\/?p=13652"},"modified":"2020-01-17T08:55:16","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T23:55:16","slug":"singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\/","title":{"rendered":"Singer Speaks of Sadness at Song Punishment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A South Korean singer has revealed his sadness at the news that a group of university students have allegedly been punished by the North Korean authorities for singing one of his songs, \u201cFriend\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Giving an interview to Radio Free Asia on the 6th, An Jae Wook explained, \u201dFriends are a precious thing whenever and wherever we are, unrelated to ideology or system, and I believe that the North Korean people sang the song with that emotion. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope the day will soon come when North and South can sing the song together, despite their ideologies and systems being different,\u201d An added.<\/p>\n<p>North Korea is currently coming down heavily on the singing of South Korean songs and watching of South Korean dramas. According to an RFA source in Yangkang Province, \u201cThe crackdown against people who harbor illusions about South Korea is getting more serious, with those people certain to be dealt with as spies.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Last month, RFA reported the case, in which students from No.1 University of Education in Chongjin engaged in farm support activities in Osang-ri in North Hamkyung Province were investigated by the People\u2019s Safety Ministry and their ideology criticized after they were caught singing \u201cFriend\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A South Korean singer has revealed his sadness at the news that a group of university students have allegedly been punished by the North Korean authorities for singing one of his songs, \u201cFriend\u201d. Giving an interview to Radio Free Asia on the 6th, An Jae Wook explained, \u201dFriends are a precious thing whenever and wherever [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":154,"featured_media":13654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v28.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Singer Speaks of Sadness at Song Punishment - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Singer Speaks of Sadness at Song Punishment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A South Korean singer has revealed his sadness at the news that a group of university students have allegedly been punished by the North Korean authorities for singing one of his songs, \u201cFriend\u201d. Giving an interview to Radio Free Asia on the 6th, An Jae Wook explained, \u201dFriends are a precious thing whenever and wherever [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-11-08T07:50:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-16T23:55:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/11\/DNKF00006986_List.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"140\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"93\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Namgung Min\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Namgung Min\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Namgung Min\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6d5f164417062aaae049a02c21f7539f\"},\"headline\":\"Singer Speaks of Sadness at Song Punishment\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-11-08T07:50:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-16T23:55:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":205,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/DNKF00006986_List.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\\\/\",\"name\":\"Singer Speaks of Sadness at Song Punishment - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/DNKF00006986_List.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-11-08T07:50:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-16T23:55:16+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/DNKF00006986_List.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2010\\\/11\\\/DNKF00006986_List.jpg\",\"width\":140,\"height\":93},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Singer Speaks of Sadness at Song Punishment\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\",\"name\":\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Daily NK English\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/top_logo@1x.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/top_logo@1x.png\",\"width\":272,\"height\":90,\"caption\":\"Daily NK English\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"description\":\"An independent online news organization based in Seoul, South Korea, reporting on internal North Korean affairs through a network of in-country sources and defector journalists. Part of the Unification Media Group (UMG) consortium.\",\"email\":\"dailynkenglish@uni-media.net\",\"telephone\":\"82-2-732-6998\",\"legalName\":\"DailyNK\",\"foundingDate\":\"2004-12-01\",\"numberOfEmployees\":{\"@type\":\"QuantitativeValue\",\"minValue\":\"1\",\"maxValue\":\"10\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6d5f164417062aaae049a02c21f7539f\",\"name\":\"Namgung Min\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png\",\"caption\":\"Namgung Min\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/author\\\/namgung-min\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Singer Speaks of Sadness at Song Punishment - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Singer Speaks of Sadness at Song Punishment","og_description":"A South Korean singer has revealed his sadness at the news that a group of university students have allegedly been punished by the North Korean authorities for singing one of his songs, \u201cFriend\u201d. Giving an interview to Radio Free Asia on the 6th, An Jae Wook explained, \u201dFriends are a precious thing whenever and wherever [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\/","og_site_name":"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","article_published_time":"2010-11-08T07:50:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-01-16T23:55:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":140,"height":93,"url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/11\/DNKF00006986_List.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Namgung Min","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Namgung Min","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\/"},"author":{"name":"Namgung Min","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/6d5f164417062aaae049a02c21f7539f"},"headline":"Singer Speaks of Sadness at Song Punishment","datePublished":"2010-11-08T07:50:23+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-16T23:55:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\/"},"wordCount":205,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/11\/DNKF00006986_List.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\/","name":"Singer Speaks of Sadness at Song Punishment - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/11\/DNKF00006986_List.jpg","datePublished":"2010-11-08T07:50:23+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-16T23:55:16+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/11\/DNKF00006986_List.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2010\/11\/DNKF00006986_List.jpg","width":140,"height":93},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/singer-speaks-of-sadness-at-song-p\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Singer Speaks of Sadness at Song Punishment"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/","name":"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization","name":"Daily NK English","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/top_logo@1x.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/top_logo@1x.png","width":272,"height":90,"caption":"Daily NK English"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"description":"An independent online news organization based in Seoul, South Korea, reporting on internal North Korean affairs through a network of in-country sources and defector journalists. Part of the Unification Media Group (UMG) consortium.","email":"dailynkenglish@uni-media.net","telephone":"82-2-732-6998","legalName":"DailyNK","foundingDate":"2004-12-01","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"1","maxValue":"10"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/6d5f164417062aaae049a02c21f7539f","name":"Namgung Min","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png","caption":"Namgung Min"},"url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/author\/namgung-min\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/154"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13652"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13653,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13652\/revisions\/13653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}