[The Editors' Verdict] It's Fine to Give 3 Billion Won to North Korea

North Korea stands almost alone as the only place resisting the global wave of K-culture. The regime considers all South Korean cultural products?including dramas, variety shows, pop music, and books?a threat to its system. Residents caught consuming these are subjected to harsh punishments. This is likely because the free-spirited nature embedded in K-content threatens to crack the indoctrinated consciousness of its people. South Korea, too, strictly restricts North Korean content. While it is not particularly difficult to access major North Korean websites using a virtual private network (VPN), at least in principle, such access remains limited. Against this backdrop, the government is reportedly considering expanding the scope of public access to North Korean materials. The opposition parties are fiercely objecting to this move.

All cultural content produced in North Korea serves as a propaganda tool. Not only novels and films, but even children’s songs circulating among the young are fundamentally centered on praising the Kim family. It is true that, even as recently as the 1990s, there were people who felt a surge of emotion listening to such songs. Some accepted North Korean propaganda as it was, spreading it within South Korean society, fueling internal conflicts, and inducing social unrest. Although such cases have dwindled to near extinction compared to those times, a few still remain. Since 1953, the two Koreas have only paused their war. This is the background for South Korea’s blockade of North Korean content.

North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jongun is inspecting a local munitions factory in August 2023 and testing a rifle. Photo by Yonhap News

Nevertheless, I believe it is time to reconsider this approach. Rather than merely expanding the range, why not eliminate the barriers to North Korean content altogether? The gap in national power between the two Koreas is overwhelming, and the differences in cultural capacity and civic consciousness are beyond comparison. If South Korean society were to be exposed to North Korean content without any restrictions, how likely is it that the public would be swayed? On the contrary, it could have the reverse effect of shaking the North Korean regime.

If the barriers to North Korean content were to fall, what everyone would soon witness is not confusion or agitation in South Korean society, but rather its sense of humor. No South Korean would feel threatened by storytelling so transparently aimed at glorification, awkward direction, or the backgrounds embedded within. Instead, South Korean creators would likely reproduce North Korean content as memes and laugh it off. The myth of the 'Baekdu bloodline' would be satirized, and the regime would become an object of ridicule.

One essential attribute of power is 'solemnity.' It must be serious and dignified. North Korean content, if released and freely circulated, could paradoxically dismantle the very solemnity of the North Korean regime. Exposing the absolute power shrouded in absurd myths can be achieved through ridicule alone. The content they themselves produce will be the very source of that laughter.

Coincidentally, North Korea issued its first official response to President Lee Jaemyung’s North Korea policy yesterday. Kim Yo-jong, Deputy Director of the Workers’ Party of Korea and sister of North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un, declared in a statement on the 28th, "We have no interest in whatever policies are established or proposals are made in Seoul," and, "There will be no occasion to sit face to face with South Korea, nor any issues to discuss." North Korea’s disregard for South Korea is a constant, and South Korea has no choice but to quietly pursue its own course.

There are indeed concerns that opening up North Korean content could be exploited as a source of funds for the North Korean regime. The Inter-Korean Economic and Cultural Cooperation Foundation (KEMCO), founded under the leadership of former Blue House Chief of Staff Im Jongseok, collects copyright fees for North Korean works. Reportedly, the amount KEMCO has deposited in court for North Korea now exceeds 3 billion won. Liberalizing North Korean content would rapidly increase the scale of these deposits. Still, I believe this is acceptable. The Kim Jong-un regime may gain 3 billion won plus some, but whatever remnants of the regime’s authority remain would be completely stripped away without a trace.