{"id":27820,"date":"2014-07-24T01:03:27","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T16:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.dailynk.com\/en\/?p=27820"},"modified":"2020-01-17T09:27:23","modified_gmt":"2020-01-17T00:27:23","slug":"north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\/","title":{"rendered":"North Koreans Eagerly Strumming Along"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-5591755e-623d-4f59-9eed-dcae5f0c3d38\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"mso-ansi-language:EN-GB\">Guitar is an increasingly popular choice for North Korean elementary and middle school<br \/>\nstudents.&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 15px;\">\u201cElementary and middle school students are keen on learning guitar nowadays,\u201d a source from South Pyongan Province conveyed today. \u201cIt has always been popular as an instrument for the masses, but this fever to learn in order to get the upper hand in the military is new.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span \uff2d\uff33=\"\" \u660e\u671d\";=\"\" mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;color:#212021;mso-ansi-language:en-gb\"=\"\" style=\"font-size: 11.5pt;\"><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"mso-ansi-language:EN-GB\">According to the Daily NK source, growth in the guitar market is being driven by the fact that knowing how to<br \/>\nplay guitar can yield a role with a \u201cpropaganda<br \/>\nunit\u201d of the military, the teams whose task it is to strike up revolutionary songs to encourage loyalty and<br \/>\nengender feats of productivity in all kinds of places, from factory<br \/>\nentrances to military units and farm fields.<\/span><span style=\"font-size:11.5pt;\nfont-family:\uad74\ub9bc;mso-fareast-font-family:\" \uff2d\uff33=\"\" \u660e\u671d\";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;=\"\" color:#212021;mso-ansi-language:en-gb\"=\"\"><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-size: 15px;\">This has not always been the case. In the 1960s, <\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-size: 15px;\">the <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 15px;\">North Korean authorities rejected the guitar as a revisionist instrument<br \/>\nof delinquents, one that threatened the cultivation of ethnic Korean heritage. As<br \/>\nsuch, traditional instruments such as the <i>gayageum<\/i> and bamboo flute were<br \/>\nencouraged in its stead. However, in the 80s the guitar made a popular comeback alongside the<br \/>\naccordion, appearing in New Year\u2019s children\u2019s performances attended by Kim Il<br \/>\nSung and becoming part of the school curriculum.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"mso-ansi-language:EN-GB\">North Korea\u2019s<br \/>\ndomestically produced guitars come from \u201cMangkyungdae Instrument Factory\u201d in<br \/>\nPyongyang. In addition to guitars, the factory produces instruments<br \/>\nincluding accordions and Gayageums for art troupes, schools and various enterprises.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-size:11.5pt;font-family:\uad74\ub9bc;mso-fareast-font-family:\n\" \uff2d\uff33=\"\" \u660e\u671d\";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;color:#212021;mso-ansi-language:=\"\" en-gb\"=\"\"><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"mso-ansi-language:EN-GB\">Although a small<br \/>\nnumber of locally produced guitars have long been on sale in North Korea\u2019s largest state<br \/>\ndepartment stores, restrictions on entry into the capital meant that it was hard for people in the suburbs to obtain them even where money was available. This is why the<br \/>\nnumber of people who owned the instrument was very small until the <i>jangmadang<\/i><span style=\"mso-bidi-font-style:italic\">, or market,<i> <\/i><\/span>emerged in the 1990s.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-size:11.5pt;font-family:\uad74\ub9bc;mso-fareast-font-family:\n\" \uff2d\uff33=\"\" \u660e\u671d\";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;color:#212021;mso-ansi-language:=\"\" en-gb\"=\"\"><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"mso-ansi-language:EN-GB\">In the 2000s, however, guitars grew more common. In particular, one made in Jagang Province with leftover materials from production<br \/>\nof other goods in factories, a so-called \u201c8.3 product\u201d,&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 15px;\">appeared on the market<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 15px;\">. According to the source,<br \/>\n\u201cJagang Province is mountainous and has an abundance of trees, so it has the<br \/>\ncapacity to produce guitar parts. However, guitars from Mangkyungdae Instrument Factory<br \/>\nand the Jagang ones not only differ in appearance; the sound quality is<br \/>\nalso very different.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"mso-ansi-language:EN-GB\">\u201cYou have to check<br \/>\nthat the finger board is level and test the accuracy of the notes, quality of<br \/>\nthe sound box and the tuning pegs,\u201d she went on. Homemade guitar<br \/>\nstrings currently cost 1000 KPW each, while ones imported from China are 5000 KPW.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"mso-ansi-language:EN-GB\">\u201cStudents used to<br \/>\nlearn guitar as a hobby or out of interest, but now more are choosing to do it for<br \/>\nthe sake of a better future. Because musical talent is desired by the state for<br \/>\npropaganda and agitation, it is a great way to avoid hard work on construction<br \/>\nsites,\u201d the source said. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"mso-ansi-language:EN-GB\">For example, when<br \/>\nconscription comes around in April, anyone who knows how<br \/>\nto play the accordion, guitar or trumpet is likely to receive a favorable deployment. Since men must serve for 10 years and women<br \/>\nfor 6 years in North Korea, and soldiers don\u2019t<br \/>\nalways receive sufficient rations to avoid malnutrition, parents seek ways<br \/>\nto alleviate their children\u2019s burden. This includes private lessons in<br \/>\npiano, accordion, guitar or trumpet, according to the source. <\/span><span style=\"font-size:11.5pt;font-family:\uad74\ub9bc;mso-fareast-font-family:\" \uff2d\uff33=\"\" \u660e\u671d\";=\"\" mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;color:#212021;mso-ansi-language:en-gb\"=\"\"><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"mso-ansi-language:EN-GB\">\u201cAlthough those private<br \/>\nlessons are subjected to strict regulation, officials silently allow them<br \/>\nbecause music teachers are also in difficult circumstances with the lack of rations<br \/>\nand wages and such,\u201d the source explained. \u201cThe cost of a private lesson<br \/>\ndepends on whether you\u2019re in a city or suburb, and also on what instrument you want<br \/>\nto learn. The cheapest lesson fee is around 50,000 KPW per month.\u201d <\/span><span style=\"font-size:11.5pt;font-family:\uad74\ub9bc;mso-fareast-font-family:\" \uff2d\uff33=\"\" \u660e\u671d\";=\"\" mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;color:#212021;mso-ansi-language:en-gb\"=\"\"><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"mso-ansi-language:EN-GB\">\u201cIt\u2019s impossible for<br \/>\nthe average person to own a piano, let alone receive lessons. Medium-size \u2018Silver Bell\u2019 accordions sell in Sinuiju markets for 5000<br \/>\nYuan, but factory guitars are 250,000 KPW and handmade \u20188.3\u2019 guitars 75,000<br \/>\nKPW. Only wealthy families can afford a piano and private lessons, but since<br \/>\nguitars are relatively cheaper and widely available, it is a popular choice,\u201d<br \/>\nthe source said.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 15px;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Guitar is an increasingly popular choice for North Korean elementary and middle school students.&nbsp;\u201cElementary and middle school students are keen on learning guitar nowadays,\u201d a source from South Pyongan Province conveyed today. \u201cIt has always been popular as an instrument for the masses, but this fever to learn in order to get the upper hand [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":27822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[645],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>North Koreans Eagerly Strumming Along - 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\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"North Koreans Eagerly Strumming Along\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Guitar is an increasingly popular choice for North Korean elementary and middle school students.&nbsp;\u201cElementary and middle school students are keen on learning guitar nowadays,\u201d a source from South Pyongan Province conveyed today. \u201cIt has always been popular as an instrument for the masses, but this fever to learn in order to get the upper hand [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-23T16:03:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-17T00:27:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/07\/DNKF00012115_List.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"160\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Daily NK\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daily NK\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daily NK\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4e0f6adc3d039444440ecc65e9e0aef5\"},\"headline\":\"North Koreans Eagerly Strumming Along\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-23T16:03:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-17T00:27:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":692,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/DNKF00012115_List.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\\\/\",\"name\":\"North Koreans Eagerly Strumming Along - 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\\\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/DNKF00012115_List.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-23T16:03:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-17T00:27:23+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/DNKF00012115_List.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/DNKF00012115_List.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":160},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"North Koreans Eagerly Strumming Along\"}]},{\"@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\\\/4e0f6adc3d039444440ecc65e9e0aef5\",\"name\":\"Daily NK\",\"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\":\"Daily NK\"},\"description\":\"Questions or comments about this article? Contact us at dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/author\\\/dailynk\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"North Koreans Eagerly Strumming Along - 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\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"North Koreans Eagerly Strumming Along","og_description":"Guitar is an increasingly popular choice for North Korean elementary and middle school students.&nbsp;\u201cElementary and middle school students are keen on learning guitar nowadays,\u201d a source from South Pyongan Province conveyed today. \u201cIt has always been popular as an instrument for the masses, but this fever to learn in order to get the upper hand [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\/","og_site_name":"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","article_published_time":"2014-07-23T16:03:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-01-17T00:27:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":200,"height":160,"url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/07\/DNKF00012115_List.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Daily NK","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Daily NK","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\/"},"author":{"name":"Daily NK","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/4e0f6adc3d039444440ecc65e9e0aef5"},"headline":"North Koreans Eagerly Strumming Along","datePublished":"2014-07-23T16:03:27+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-17T00:27:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\/"},"wordCount":692,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/07\/DNKF00012115_List.jpg","articleSection":["Economy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\/","name":"North Koreans Eagerly Strumming Along - 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\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/07\/DNKF00012115_List.jpg","datePublished":"2014-07-23T16:03:27+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-17T00:27:23+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/07\/DNKF00012115_List.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/07\/DNKF00012115_List.jpg","width":200,"height":160},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-koreans-eagerly-strumming-al\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"North Koreans Eagerly Strumming Along"}]},{"@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\/4e0f6adc3d039444440ecc65e9e0aef5","name":"Daily NK","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":"Daily NK"},"description":"Questions or comments about this article? Contact us at dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/author\/dailynk\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27820","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\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27820"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27821,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27820\/revisions\/27821"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}