Kim Jong Un’s catchy propaganda revamp

Think of North Korean propaganda and you might think of old-fashioned revolutionary marches praising the Supreme Leader, denouncing the United States, and intercontinental ballistic missiles ready to be launched. The sight of cheering military officials using computers, donning a pair of Sony headphones, may not immediately come to mind. Even more unimaginable, however, is the thought that a North Korean propaganda video would go viral, not least, ironically, on platforms that the North Korean population cannot even access.

Yet, North Korea’s latest propagandistic video, entitled ‘Friendly Father’, has done just that. Lauding the ‘bright future’ for North Korea under its ‘trustworthy and loving leader’, Kim Jong Un, the song’s melody offers what, by North Korean standards, is a modern revamp of propagandistic music. It has attracted the attention of millions online, and been particularly popular on the Chinese-owned app, TikTok, with one user even saying that they were ‘off to North Korea’, having heard the ditty.

Whilst the target audience is primarily domestic, it is not known as to how many of the 26 million-strong population have watched the video or listened to the song.