Kim Jong Un was meant to be their only idol - then North Koreans discovered K-pop

ByHyojung Kim

BBC Korean, Reporting fromSeoul

On a sunny Saturday successful June, Lee Yeon-su took the time disconnected from enactment and hopped connected a bid from Seoul to Busan for yet different performance by popular supergroup BTS.

It was her 3rd clip successful arsenic galore months.

She had been successful the crowds that poured into cardinal Seoul successful March, erstwhile the septet launched their comeback - but the signifier was excessively acold away. In April, connected the archetypal time of their satellite tour, the rainfall poured down, drowning retired the singers' voices. But this clip successful Busan, it was "incredible".

"Every clip I travel to a BTS concert, I realise however blessed I americium that I tin similar and enactment idiosyncratic of my ain escaped will," Yeon-su, which is not her existent name, says. "That would person been unimaginable successful North Korea."

That's wherever she was born, successful the alleged Hermit Kingdom, conscionable northbound of the heavy fortified borderline with South Korea. The extracurricular satellite was retired of reach, chopped disconnected by a authorities built connected fear, surveillance and loyalty.

"You had to beryllium selected to be events and if you weren't, you had to enactment location with your curtains closed."

Now successful South Korea, she tin determine who to cheer for and how. In Busan, alongside a immense fandom, she screamed, jumped and sang astatine the apical of her lungs, particularly for her aged favourites, the high-octane Fire and hip-hop deed Mic Drop.

Growing up successful a subject family, Yeon-su was taught the South was the enemy. When she escaped, she tried to support her region from South Korean culture. But euphony recovered its mode into her life.

She made it retired successful 2011, earlier BTS debuted, earlier K-pop became a planetary sensation. Now, adjacent listening to it, oregon watching shows from the South, is simply a transgression successful North Korea that tin onshore radical successful jailhouse oregon worse.

Some similar Yeon-su accidental they had ne'er heard South Korean euphony until they crossed the border. When they did, it opened up a full satellite of state and fun, helping them set to a strange, caller beingness that was present wholly their own.

But different defectors archer the BBC that contempt the restrictions, K-pop has chopped done successful Kim Jong Un's stifling dictatorship.

They accidental they utilized to perceive to songs successful secret, often not knowing who they were listening to, but clinging to the mysterious and hopeful lyrics. Some adjacent managed to ticker K-pop performances, shocked by the blue-haired idols wearing make-up: "Why bash men look similar that?"

"North Korea is simply a spot wherever the full strategy is acceptable up truthful that determination tin lone beryllium 1 celebrity, 1 idol - Kim Jong Un," says Hannah Oh, a 25-year-old defector.

But arsenic it turns out, North Koreans person discovered different idols, similar BTS and Blackpink, and earlier them, Girls' Generation, Teen Top and 2PM.

BTS's Korean sanction Bangtan Sonyeondan has adjacent go a portion of mundane slang successful the North, 1 defector says: "People accidental things like, 'Have you tried connected a Bangtan vest?' oregon 'Have you worn a Bangtan backpack?'"

For Kang Gyu-ri, who fled North Korea successful 2023, determination is 1 BTS deed that stands out: Dynamite.

BTS blew up streaming records erstwhile it dropped Dynamite successful 2020 - a disco-flecked way to cheer up a Covid-weary world, the set said. It caught North Korea's receptor contempt being the group's archetypal afloat English single.

"I didn't recognize the lyrics, but the melody was truthful good, it made you consciousness excited. Everyone followed along," Gyu-ri, 26, says.

At that time, she was surviving successful Kyongsong, a coastal region successful the North, wherever families could prime up TV signals crossed the h2o with an antenna. When reception was good, they watched play shows successful which K-pop idols competed, each colourful hairsbreadth and slick moves.

"Everything was shocking. I thought they were Korean similar us, but they looked precise different."

The rap was a novelty. "At first, I thought, 'Is this adjacent a song?' But they looked truthful chill dancing portion they rapped that boys started copying them."

Learning a song's signature creation determination became a inclination among teens, she says. Those who liked dancing looked to BTS and, earlier them, Teen Top, fashionable successful the 2010s for its electro-pop creation tracks.

As she talks, Gyu-ri reaches for her telephone and pulls up an aged YouTube clip of Teen Top performing No More Perfume connected You. "Like this," she says, laughing arsenic she mimes the song's signature perfume-spraying move. "Soon, each the boys astir maine were doing it. Pssht, pssht. It was truthful overmuch fun. Once you saw it, you couldn't hide it."

Because they listened to truthful galore songs secretly, she cannot callback titles. She heard Girls' Generation, South Korea's biggest and astir iconic miss group, and aboriginal became a instrumentality of Blackpink prima Jennie: "It's hard to explain, but there's thing precise driven and almighty astir her music."

She says she cannot comparison it to North Korean songs, which "felt similar they were hitting my ears. Most of the songs I heard increasing up were astir gyration oregon politics. We had to support the authorities broadcasts on, adjacent wrong the house".

Gyu-ri recovered retired astir fashionable songs rapidly arsenic she often caught them connected TV. But galore North Koreans utilized MP3 players oregon tiny SD cards. Music was spreading much easy than dramas but slowly.

In the mid-to-late 2010s, arsenic K-pop was going global, caller euphony sat alongside decades-old ballads connected SD cards circulating successful North Korea. File names were usually corrupted, truthful Hannah Oh seldom knew the title, vocalist oregon merchandise date.

"Knowing wouldn't person meant thing to maine backmost then. So I paid much attraction to the lyrics," says the 25-year-old who defected successful 2019.

One opus truly stayed with her. She listened to it implicit and over, penning down each Korean word. Years later, aft arriving successful the South, she discovered it was It's Not Too Late by Green Zone, oregon Noksaek Jidae, a fashionable antheral duo from the 1990s, erstwhile sentimental ballads dominated Korean euphony charts.

"It was each successful Korean, truthful it was overmuch easier to recognize than the K-pop I was listening to," she says. "It was the archetypal clip I thought, 'so this is however radical explicit love.'"

Listening to South Korean euphony was ever risky. As a teen, Hannah carried 2 SD cards. "One had South Korean music. The different was an bare paper I could manus implicit if I was caught."

Whenever students were caught watching South Korean content, schools crossed the metropolis would travel unneurotic for "public disapproval sessions", Hannah says.

"They would denote precisely what South Korean videos that idiosyncratic had watched and publically state that they would beryllium sent to a juvenile detention centre. It was meant to amusement everyone other what would hap if they were caught."

And yet Hannah continued listening and watching: "Once you've seen that world, it's hard to crook away."

Isolating North Koreans from the extracurricular satellite has ever been cardinal to the Kim family's survival. Their propaganda has 1 message: Pyongyang excels astatine everything, from the system to the arts, truthful thing tin bushed beingness nether the Kims. Any hint that state beckons conscionable crossed the confederate borderline is dangerous.

With K-culture present a soft-power giant, Kim Jong Un has cracked down harder. In 2022, 3 teenagers were reportedly publically executed for distributing South Korean content.

Still, a 2023 survey recovered that 98% of defectors said they had watched South Korean dramas oregon films backmost home. About 80% said it accrued their curiosity astir the South and influenced habits specified arsenic code and fashion.

Hannah believes this is precisely what the authorities fears.

"Some commencement wearing shorter skirts oregon dyeing their hair. Once radical statesman expressing themselves, it affects a strategy wherever everyone is expected to deliberation and determination together."

That's what happened to Gyu-ri. She says she did not permission North Korea due to the fact that beingness was hard. Rather, vulnerability to South Korean euphony and TV made the opposition intolerable to ignore.

"I couldn't basal it whenever I watched TV and past went outside," wherever surveillance officers watched radical for signs of overseas influence.

Gyu-ri says determination was a clip erstwhile knowing astir South Korean contented was a root of pride. "It made you look a spot stylish. People would accidental 'they cognize however to person fun'. But aft the laws became stricter, radical became overmuch much careful."

First you would perceive idiosyncratic had been caught, she says. Then you would perceive reports of executions. The accusation was deliberately dispersed arsenic a warning, she adds.

"I heard that 2 boys I knew were executed. One was astir my age, and the different was younger, astir 19."

But they didn't halt consuming this forbidden content, she continues. "It was our breathing hole, our model to the extracurricular world. People hazard their lives for it due to the fact that they summation anticipation to endure different day."

That is simply a hazard North Koreans person been taking for years.

"Do you cognize wherefore the radical I met successful situation were there? Caught for watching South Korean dramas, oregon helping idiosyncratic flight to South Korea," says Yeon-su who defected successful the 2000s.

On her archetypal attempt, she ended up successful situation aft Chinese authorities arrested her arsenic she fled crossed the borderline and forcibly repatriated her to North Korea.

Even successful prison, she says a South Korean opus kept her going. "Get up. Don't fto yourself beryllium broken," she would support singing nether her breath. "I thought, I person to survive. I person to marque it to South Korea."

And she did. But adjusting to beingness determination was not easy. At occupation interviews, employers asked whether she was North Korean oregon an taste Korean from China. She says she seldom heard backmost afterwards.

Then 1 day, she stumbled crossed a video of BTS performing Idol, a punchy 2018 hit, and fell for them. She joined their fandom, known arsenic ARMY, went to meetings, started a instrumentality account, voted successful K-pop contests and posted religiously.

But the biggest alteration was that she nary longer felt the request to fell wherever she came from. "When I told my adjacent ARMY friends I was from North Korea, cipher treated maine differently. Just arsenic determination were fans from Brazil oregon Japan, I was from North Korea."

For the archetypal clip she felt similar she belonged successful South Korea, and the euphony dilatory changed however she saw herself.

BTS's Love Yourself medium trilogy's absorption connected acceptance and healing - and the radical person RM's plea to "use us, usage BTS to emotion yourself"- resonated with millions astir the world, and with Yeon-su.

One peculiar song, Answer: Love Myself, sung by her favourite subordinate Jimin, truly deed home: "Why bash you support trying to fell down your mask? Even the scars near down by mistakes are portion of my constellation."

"I recovered the courageousness to halt moving and look that portion of myself," Yeon-su says. "As I understood myself, I recovered I had much country successful my bosom to clasp others."

Hana Kang, who arrived successful South Korea 20 years ago, says she became a BTS instrumentality due to the fact that she was drawn to thing which she had ne'er known successful the North: the state to explicit what you are feeling.

The opus that touched her was Spring Day, a haunting yet hopeful 2017 merchandise astir separation and longing. It reminded her of the hometown and household she had near down successful North Korea. "I missed them, and they felt progressively distant, similar they belonged to different world."

Hana and Yeon-su discovered BTS arsenic they roseate to planetary stardom, but the women felt a kinship with them arsenic they learned of their struggles - thing the radical spoke and sang astir candidly.

For Yeon-su, supporting BTS a was a mode of "cheering [herself] on". For Hana, the radical became a mirror: "Looking astatine them made maine think, 'If they tin support trying similar that, possibly I tin too."

It's antithetic for defectors successful much caller years.

They get successful an epoch wherever Korean euphony is simply a planetary powerhouse, and BTS its biggest poster child. There is acold much to take from.

Hannah Oh, who arrived successful 2019, says she'd imagined spending overmuch of her clip catching up connected the euphony and dramas she had erstwhile watched successful secret. Instead, she was confronted with thing new: choices.

"There were truthful galore different things I could do," she says. "In a way, I'm present surviving successful the benignant of satellite I utilized to lone spot successful dramas."